Trail Nut 1/2 Marathon and 10K

I had a blast today at the Trail Nut 1/2 Marathon and 10k. The race seemed to be very well organized. The were somewhere between 50 and 75 runners combined, and the weather turned out to be very beautiful. The course was well marked, although because of the recent rain that we have had it was pretty muddy and by the time the 1/2 marathoners made the second loop of the first 4 miles of the course it had become very slick in places in many places. Personally I didn't think that the course conditions took away from the course, i thought it just made it more fun and extra challenging. I led the first 1/2 mile of the race and I definitely went out too fast. I quickly dropped by into third and held third position until about mile 8. The last 5 miles of the course were extremely hard for me and I ended up having to walk a few of the steeped uphill sections. I think I finished in 7th place with a time of 1:47:25. 1st in the 25-29 age group. you can view results and upcoming races put on by Mountain Junkies LLC at http://mountainjunkies.blogspot.com/

Been a while...

I have been to the edges of shin splint death and I have survived to fight another day. I started running again last week and I have tried to take it really easy. No use pushing it, I'd just end up hurting these fragile chicken legs again. I've also started to cross train a little on an old bike that I have recently acquired. (The bike is actually from JC Penny, that's how old the thing is!) That's been fun and it been a good change of pace. I'd still trade a run for a bike ride any day, but that bike rides will have to suffice until I can build my mileage back up. Speaking of obscene mileage...

I have signed up to run a half marathon on Saturday. It's the Trail Nut 10k and Half Marathon. It is put on by Mountain Junkies LLC and the race is being held at a park in beautiful Bedford, VA. In case your wondering I have heard that faint voice of reason in my head saying, 'hey, stupid, you're nursing an injury. Why make it worse by running 13.1 miles.' In the words of Steve Prefontaine in the movie 'without limits', "Bill, you don't know what will happen to my foot if I do run, but you do know what it'll do to me if I don't." That, plus the registration was $30 bucks and I feel guilty if I wasted it. Plus who can sit out on a race. Bring it on. I'm hoping to break 1:30. That is about where I was before I began to feel the shin splints and so we'll give it a go and see what happens. Hopefully I'll post again on Sunday with the joyous announcement of a PR. Until then "Prepare ship for ludicrous speed!"