Was sitting around on saturday afternoon on the couch watching alpine skiing thinking of my route for my 90 minute tempo build run on sunday morning to be followed up by a 5400 yd swim set, when it dawned on me that I should run the RnR Half Marathon in my backyard. It was 4:15 in the afternoon. I pinged Jesse for his opinion--he said DBAP. I went online, and the website said the expo closed at 5pm. I was there and parked by 4:45--good thing I live close. Got signed up. I figured why not run a little harder, get a little free catering during my run, etc, etc.
On saturday morning Johnna and I did a nice 5 hr ride with 7,000 ft of climbing including a trek through the slush on Mt Wilson. I knew my legs would not be fresh for a fast time, but my run training has been going great, so why not put in a fast effort. Worst case, I'd slow in the final miles.
Got up at 6:15, had a yogurt and a banana and a gatorade. Johnna dropped me off at 7:00am -- as I was getting out of the car, we noticed this woman get out of a car in front of us. She jumped to the curb--more like a hop--pulled out a cigarette and lit up. I guess that's called lung strength training. Run 13 miles on half lung capacity. You can't fix stupid.
I headed to the start, got my warm up in. I saw Chaney and Ku, but no PTC Peeps. They were all camped in corral 1 I guess. I got relegated to Corral 4--what a mistake. I ran an extra .2 miles zig zagging my way through the first 2 miles.
In the first mile, I had a demon pop up on my shoulder and say, "Hey dude, your legs don't feel too fresh do they?" I basically told him to f off, and told myself to ignore that crap and just run. Didn't see that demon for the rest of the day.
Started strong despite the meandering crowd in front of me. It's amazing how many people can't run straight. Where was Marvin when I needed him? Course was cool. Lots of little hills. Ran strong. Came in at 1:41:19, about 50 seconds off my PR at RnR LA Half in October. Got to the finish--didn't see any of the PCT Peeps or the wonderwoman trailer. Bummer.
Johnna picked me up after her swim--not running due to torn calf muscle--will be upgraded to eligible very soon. We hit Panera, took a nap, and then headed back to the RBAC for that 5400 yd set. Luckily it was mostly pull...
Would definitely do this race again. Sub 1:40 next time I run a half.
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