Tuesday, January 17, 2012

"Feeling Stronger Every Day"

  What a race weekend!!!! I wish I was good at putting what I think into words but I'm not so I will do my best to make this less painful to read. I guess I can start by saying there are now 2 more things I can cross off my bucket list: 1. Seeing the Olympic trials and 2. Running the Aramco half marathon.
  I had no idea what kind of race I was going to run Sun. but to me this week end about my racing but about the Olympic Trials and seeing one of the runners I coached when she was running cross country in high school. I had watched her run since she was in the 7th grade and I was so proud knowing she was running as one of the best female runners in the nation.
  Mary and I drove down Fri. morning. We checked into the hotel and went straight to the expo and I picked up race bib and several other items I totally didn't need. I've got to tell you Mary is not near as much fun at the expo's as Jessica is. The expo enthusiasm just wasn't there. After walking around for a while we went outside for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Trials. It was very exciting and Mary was really starting to get into it. Later we went back to the hotel to enjoy a quiet relaxing dinner with my brother and sister in law-Barry and Mary Anne and a plus their car didn't get towed away(always good when that happens).
  Saturday morning rolled around and it was time for the trials to start. We watched the men start and of course I ran around catching them at every spot I could. After their 1st loop the real reason I was here was ready to start. The women were off. I tried so hard but couldn't be sure if I saw Meagan at the start so we waited until they made their 1st pass(1st loop was 2.2 mi. then they had three 8 mi. loops). When they came around I was able to see her then I made sure I saw her on every loop. We caught up with John and Sharon(Meagans mom and dad) and watched with them as Meagan made her other loops. After the race was over Mary and I got to visit with Meagan and I just was so proud of her. 49th overall in the trials was fantastic!
   Okay now for my race-woke up race morning and checked the weather-no rain-no ice-no heat-just a perfect day for racing. Got dressed had my coffee and my nutri-grain bar and took care of everything I needed to before I left the hotel(runners you understand what I'm saying). As I was walking out of the hotel I turned my Garmin on to locate the right satellite as I was walking to my start corral. Boston Billy was the official starter as well as Frank Shorter-Nothing could go wrong-Not. About 2 minutes before the start I looked at my watch and nothing-I mean blank. I tried to start it but got nothing so I was panicking till I realized the would have race clocks at the mi. markers. I would be a little off but I could figure the difference. This would have worked but I missed most of the clocks on the mile markers so I was depending on the pace clock in my head. It worked pretty good till about 10k mark and I let the race get away from me for awhile but I ended up pushing at the end ran as good as could(I always think I can do better but I think that's a trait of most runners).
   I ran a 1:42.57 which is my fastest time since RocknRoll last March. I was 993 out of 9352 runners(top 11%) and 11th in my age group out of 167 runners  (top 6%). This was not quite the results I wanted but I've been running long enough to know that these things happen. Sometimes you just get your butt kicked. There is always another day and more races to run.
  Next month I go to Austin to run the Livestrong 1/2 and even though the course is harder I planning on running a faster time. I will have more miles under my belt and much better quality workouts. I always seem to run better 1/2's on a marathon training schedule. That,s my goal anyway-no sickies and no cataract surgery. Of course that also means no excuses either. It is time for me to get back under 1:40. I'm not saying I am going to do that at Austin but I will be giving it my best shot! After all I am "Feeling Stronger Every Day".