It’s been a long long summer of running. After reviewing my Garmin, I realized that between the Flying Pig and Chicago, I logged 1000+ miles running. Just running, no other activity included there! So with all that, you’d expect some awesome results. Well my results were mostly awesome but not entirely.
May 2008 — Flying Pig. The hometown favorite race. It’s such a fun race, and I got a personal best of 3:44, taking a full 15 minutes off my previous best. In full disclosure that is an adjusted time as the course was rerouted due to a fire which extended the route 1/4 mile.
August 2008 — Hyde Park 5. A recent addition to the running world in Cincinnati. It was on a Thursday evening, which was perfect for me. I hate Saturday races since they interrupt my training runs, and Sunday races mean that I have no fun the entire weekend. This was a PB for a 5K in 20:49. Never in my life did I think that I’d run that fast, but now I want more!
September 2008 — State to State Half Marathon. Never have done this race before, but I registered to force me to taper prior to Chicago. It’s held in Oxford, OH about 1 hour from Cincinnati. The route is basically and out and back going from Oxford to Indiana and back with two detours on the way out into sub-divisions. I had a goal of 1:44 starting out which would mirror my Chicago pace. As I started everyone was passing me, so stupid me, I starting going faster, knowing full well that I’d bonk. Well the turnaround came, and I was still going strong, so I picked it up. I finished in a 1:37 with a negative split. My first 1/2 so it would be a PB regardless.
October 2008 — Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Oh Chicago, my favorite city. Well my favorite city wasn’t too kind back. The starting temperature was 68 degrees, but I decided to stay with the 3:30 pace group. I felt OK at the start, but looking back it wasn’t going to be my day that day. My head hust wasn’t there. I made it to mile 18 before losing it. As I was taking a gel, I literally lost it. But I came back and kept going. Over the last 12K I lost 23 minutes. At least the other people that I knew at the race either dropped out or were off their PB’s as well. And then today I understand that they raised the warning level to Red somewhere along the way. I must have been paying very little attention at that point. But I will be back!
October 2008 — Columbus Half Marathon. The weekend after Chicago, what am I thinking! I put in some slow miles the week in between just to keep moving. After two trips to Columbus that weekend (one to pickup my stuff and one for the event), I was ready to go. My goal was a 1:35. This would give me a new PB AND it would get me in corral B for Chicago next year. The cool temp really helped. I started with the 3:10 pace group and everything was going great. My shoelace came untied at mile 2 though. Never has happened before. I ran off to the side, retied it and started back. Now I have a problem with catching up too fast after a stop, but this time I took it easy and within a half mile I was back with the group. Somewhere between miles 4 and 5, I decided that I was feeling awesome and I would pick it up. And I kept it up. At mile 10 or so, I realized that I was close to a sub 1:30, so I picked it up some more. I ended up at a 1:30:11 which was great and a new PB by 7+ minutes.
Next Race: Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Race
