Winslow Half Marathon

"This is the last hill."

"Just one more.  That is right, now I remember." 

"For sure, this is the last one". 

That is pretty much my last few miles. I ran that last hill about a dozen times, lying to myself on each.

Winslow is a tough course. In addition to the hills, the middle 5 miles of the race is on country roads with packed dirt and rocks. This year there was no mud, thankfully, but the bright sun made for a little warmer day than last year.

There was certainly more competition this year. The guy who won last year brought several of his fast buddies.  I finished in 1:30:55, bettering last year by more than 3 minutes.  Yet, I fell from 4th place to 8th place overall.  I was still the fastest masters runner by several minutes, though.

This is an encouraging sign for my training.  I'm definitely faster than ever.  I'm not sure I'm 3 minutes faster, but I am faster.  I'm curious what I can do in Wichita on a flat course.  I hope the weather is good.

Shelly was fascinated with my decision to continue running a cooldown jog after I got my medal at the finish. I explained that a 2-mile warmup and a 2-mile cooldown would allow me to count the day as a 17 mile long run in my NYC marathon training program.

A long run is 17 miles minimum, it says so right there in the rule book.  It's just after the warning about running a race in the shirt they give you for that particular race -- bad karma.  It's also just before the explanation for why the weekly mileage log must start on Mondays and end on Sundays -- obviously.

Shelly laughed at me.  I don't think she understands the importance of rules.

Run with Your Nephews

The race was called Run for a Child but I like my name better -- Run with Your Nephews.  This was the best part of the day by far.  After the 10K was over and I had a chance to cool down a bit, I jumped in the last quarter-mile of the 5K so I could finish up with Riley and Devin.  I looked for my sister, Andrea, but missed her. I guess she was running so fast she was just a blur...whooosh.

As for my 10K race, meh. I ran a 3 second PR, with a finish time of 39:53.  I finished 13th/253 overall and 2nd/22 in my age group.

I had some good excuses why I didn't run as fast as I was capable, but after 10 days or so, I have forgotten those excuses.  Something about being sick, or hills, or heat, or something.  Pick one I guess.  Next time I will be more diligent about preparing proper excuses.