http://bit.ly/8r7Khz - What a day! This race really hurt. Of course, having run a full marathon as well as a half marathon the prior weekend probably had something to do with that. I set out to run with the 3:50 pace group, which would have gotten me a 2 minute PR. The problem was that the pace leader never showed up. So off I went to run a 8:47 pace and finish in 3:50. Everything was going well until mile 16 or so when I was a bit ahead of pace and I did some math in my head and realized a 3:45 marathon was possible if I had it in me to pick up the pace and sustain it.
This seemed ridiculous with 10 miles to go so I pushed the pace gently keeping the thought in my head until the final 10k, just like at Disney. That's when I let it go and my splits started falling below 8:00 miles. Oh man that was painful. My legs wanted to quit, but I really wanted to get my 3:45.
Forget the future. Live in the now. I refused to think about how tired and hurt I'd be in 1, 2, 3 more miles and admitted to myself that at this very moment, I could handle what I was doing to myself. And so it went, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 26.2, cross the line and stop running. Final score: 3:43:26.
Unfortunately, I think I really messed myself up this time and everyone is telling me to skip Rocky Raccoon in three weeks. I'll reserve judgment, but at this moment, I cannot imagine doing 50 miles on these legs.
Today I made a new PR by 10 minutes.
My father ran in the 5k event and his finish marked the first time he's been able to run a 5k race straight-through since returning to the sport after knee surgery.
There were also several other Dynamo supporters on the road wearing their jerseys, which is always fun. As I ran through the Rice Village, I came across Dynamo captain Wade Barrett with his wife standing on the sidewalk watching the runners. As I approached, he saw me and cheered me on by name as I ran by and high-fived him. It was an interesting role reversal and a hell of a lot of fun.
My qualifying time for Boston is 3:15:59 and while it seems a world away, I am steadily chipping away at the distance between my PR and that time. All I can say is that I'll get there eventually, no matter how long it takes. It's one of my dreams.
My father ran in the 5k event and his finish marked the first time he's been able to run a 5k race straight-through since returning to the sport after knee surgery.There were also several other Dynamo supporters on the road wearing their jerseys, which is always fun. As I ran through the Rice Village, I came across Dynamo captain Wade Barrett with his wife standing on the sidewalk watching the runners. As I approached, he saw me and cheered me on by name as I ran by and high-fived him. It was an interesting role reversal and a hell of a lot of fun.
My qualifying time for Boston is 3:15:59 and while it seems a world away, I am steadily chipping away at the distance between my PR and that time. All I can say is that I'll get there eventually, no matter how long it takes. It's one of my dreams.
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