Thanks, Erik H., for providing me with the incentive to actually accept this goal. I never would have considered it if you weren't there to
Prior to training for this race, the furthest distance I had ever run was about 7 1/2 miles. That was more than two decades ago.
Facing a training schedule with Saturday runs that grew steadily from 6 miles to 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and finally 13 miles seemed like an insane voluntary undertaking.
Week by week, mile by mile. Wind. Rain. Snow. Ice. More snow and ice. Each run was both a challenge and an adventure. And yes, fun.
Now it's over.
It WAS fun. Actually, it was a BLAST.
My time was about 1hr 52minutes ~ about 8:30 per mile on average. Pretty close to what I was expecting. I finished #156 our of about 450 finishers.
A week before the race, weather forecasts were predicting heavy snow on Friday and further dropping temperatures for Saturday. As is commonplace, they were completely wrong. Weather was overcast and about 50 degrees. The rain held off until a few hours after the race was over.
Whether or not I do another race of this distance remains to be seen, but it's clear to me that having a race on the calendar is definitely in my future (provided it's not on a scheduled hike day of course).
Maybe just a 10k. Maybe just a 5k. Maybe a Warrior Dash ("3.55 hellish miles"). How about a Ragnar relay (187 mile relay with a team of 12)? Lots to think about.
Time to replace the batteries in the headlamp (summer is a LONG ways off) and start shopping for a new pair of shoes. My Brooks Glycerin's now have more than 700 miles on them and the tread is quickly disappearing (quite the issue in the snow, believe me).
Enough of all that, I need to finish up that Fort Ebey trip report!
Happy Running!
~E
Congrats on your first half! Perhaps you'll consider your second next month-check out the Woolley Runs on the Cascade Trail on Feb 19.
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