Miserable and Lonely: Two Not-So-Great Feelings That Go Great Together

My birthday was yesterday. So what did I do to celebrate? I ran 9 and a quarter miles on a track, by myself, in the cold, in the rain, and in the dark. And I'm glad I did too.

Miserable and lonely are definitely two feelings (among others) that rear their heads during the later stages of a marathon. So is the desire to stop short. So I made sure that I did everything I had planned last night. We missed the opportunity to do this workout last week due to the tracks being used, and the fact that I was going to go it alone this week wasn't going to stop me from completing it.

10 X 800 is a lot of running. The most I've done in a speedwork session yet. I was hoping to at least maintain steady splits from the first to the last. I really didn't know what range I was going to be at, as I was still tired from the half marathon on Saturday. Given that, and the uncooperative weather, I can't be too disappointed in the results:
3:10 / 3:19 / 3:19 / 3:17 / 3:19 / 3:13 / 3:15 / 3:20 / 3:20 / 3:15. I would have liked the average to be grouped around the 3:10 mark, but there was a steady wind coming out of the west really slowing things down on the back straight. And not having anyone to pace off of slows things down a bit too. I'm not going to be hard on my times at all. The fact that I completed them all brings me more satisfaction than the times themselves.

Speaking of the half marathon. I was able to get back on the website to view the results and here's how I did against the competition. My time of 1:33:59 placed me 9th in my age group out of 132, and 50th overall out of 781. Wow! I never look at how I place against others in big races like Akron. I just look at my time. But I did damn good, if I do say so myself. The hard part now is going to be improving THAT time. I don't expect to do it this year, so sometime in 2009 will have to do.

My hard workouts are now done, as I am 18 days away from Columbus. I plan on going for a long run this weekend, maybe 18 or so. And I am planning for two more speed sessions, but I'm not going to be pushing that hard during them. So, the proverbial "hay is in the barn". I just need to show up on race day and do my thing. Until next time...

Mr. P