My goal for the spring segment of training was the USA Half Marathon Championships at Grandma's Marathon. THIS WHAT HAPPEN-----
I assumed that like every other road championship race, this one would go out like crazy, and it did. We went through the mile in 4:39 and 5k in 14:40 something, then through 10k in 29:40 something. I was feeling pretty awful this whole time. I decided to hang with a pack of bros that were the only thing I could see resembling a group. I dangled around the back for a while, waiting for something to go down and the pack to burst, but that didn't happen this time. This time, when we got to ten miles, nobody slowed down and I was shat out the back. I fought tooth and nail to not slow down - I guess I should have fought harder than teeth or nails, because I slowed down. I waddled my way into the finish line in 20th place (lame) and with a new half PR (less lame) I've never had my ass so thoroughly kicked and still ran a respectable time.
Looking back on the spring, I have to look fondly on the training and racing along the route, even if the end goal race wasn't as great as I wanted it to be. It started in February while I was slamming 5k repeats on the Snap Fitness treadmill because I'm too cheap to get a Lifetime membership (them Woodways are niiice). Or mouthing back to uppity cyclists around the lakes about whether or not I should be on the bike path (they feel that I shouldn't). I got to race a lot, in such exotic locales as Chicago and Grand Rapids, MI. And I at least achieved a goal of placing high enough to get into the .US Road Racing Championship at the end of the year. I also wore some white running shorts a few times, which was a first for me.
I took some time off after Grandma's and was an absolute bucket of scum for a week. I ate terrible food, stayed up late, drank too much - watched lots of WKRP in Cincinnati reruns. But I have slowly transitioned back to the lifestyle of a running person. So now there's some more races to run.
