R u kidding, Britta? I know anxiety. Love reading everyone's encouraging words! Unfortunately I can't let them in. Too anxious. I feel like a glass jar bursting with highly charged atoms developing an ever widening crack. My inner Vulcan beamed up with the last hour at work and all those emotions I shored up to get through this week just broke free. It might be just rebound from adrenaline. Whatever. Life would be much easier right now if I could run.

I had the same doubts as you. I kept reaching out for wisdom. Finally someone just said "trust the process." I pass this on to you now. Training programs have worked repeatedly. All you have to do is pick one and work it faithfully. If you customize you might risk moving too fast and injuring yourself like I did or losing some momentum however as long as you keep at your training, you'll make because no matter how anxious you get, the process works.

I wanted to wish the best of luck to everyone for the weekend's races.  I know that the excitement is growing, it always does, and that's a good thing.  Just remember on the day that there is only one main goal which is the finish line.  How long it takes to get there is secondary, but always do what it takes to finish.  We're all ready, just try to rest up as much as you can.  There's only so much you can influence or control on how a race goes so relax and enjoy the day.  Give it your best effort and be willing to accept if something else effects your race that you can't control like weather or real life in Penny's case. 

I'm confident we'll all finish and have great messages to post about our accomplishments.  It's show time, enjoy the moment.

Andy

Hi everyone,

I know I've been away a while but I know some of you have halfs this weekend (Marykay) and want to wish you the best of luck.  I hope everyone else is out there meeting their goals, run strong, run safe.

I just wanted to put a quick shout out to everyone running this weekend.  Trust your training, enjoy yourself and good luck in your races.

My races this weekend is a 5k Saturday night and then the 1/2 marathon Sunday.  Unfortunately, it will be more of a training run instead of a race.  This past week, I have worked more than 12 hrs the past 3 days and I have to go in early tomorrow morning for a quick check.  My original goal was to do the 1/2 in 2hrs or less.  Now, I am planning to take it long and slow - maybe 2hrs 15 min - 2 1/2 hrs.

In addition, my daughter is running in a Jr. Olympics for her school , so it will be an easy day.

I hope you all have a good weekend, great weather and a enjoyable, painfree race!

Penny, I hope your race went well...

As for me, my first part of the Nut Job challenge is finished.  I know I said I would take my time, but my body did not want to listen.  Here are the "numbers", according to the email I got when I finally made it home tonight:

79 degrees, (humid, but not mentioned in the email) and this was at 6pm.

1218 finishers, 77 in my age group

1.7 mile split : 15:39, Final split: 11:42 (negative split!!!).  Final time 27min 21 seconds.     25th in age group, 280th overall, 193rd male.

The first 1/2 mile was spent avoiding the walkers.  I started near the back and just picked off the runners as I went.  At the turn around, I bypassed the water station and noticed I was making pretty good time.  There were a couple of hills going back and I just ignored them.  This time is my 2nd best time (25:35 being my PR) and best time in over 2 years.  Considering I have not run in about a month, I am pretty happy.  I just hope that I did not use up all the energy tonight since I need to run the 1/2 marathon at 7am in the morning. 

Time to head to bed.. catch you all later

Eric, there will always be 'what ifs' after a race.  It goes under the 'uncontrollable influence' category of things that effect your race but can't be helped.  The most important thing is that you did the race and you're happy with the effort you gave on the day. 

For my part I completed my 25k trail run.  I quickly found out that I haven't fully recovered from my HM 2 weeks ago and so I had to back off the pace and resort to race walking on the steeper climbs.  The day quickly warmed up and by halfway through the second lap I found dehydration was becoming an issue despite my efforts.  I had to walk for a while to allow time to absorb more water without upsetting my stomach but I'd rather make steady progress than stop.  In the end I ran in the last few miles which took something of a zen bubble to block out my sore legs but the surprise was that the set of mats wasn't the finish line and I had another quarter mile to go.  Ok, so suck it up and push through for the big finish.  I took my hydration pack with 1.5 liters of drink mix and it ran dry with 3 miles to go even though I took advantage of the aid stations too.  So this one gets chalked up to determination but I've kept my perfect record of finishing every race.  My next race is a olympic distance triathlon in July so I have some time to get over these races and be ready for the next one.

I hope everyone else had good races and look forward to hearing some good highlights.

Andy

Having trouble posting race report. Keep getting message that "Restricted content found." It is nearly the same thing I posted on the 50 and over thread so I'm once again frustrated. Going to break this into two to see if I can trick it.

First of all, the course is a bear! It's great for sites, crosses three bridges, goes through a park and runs past historic buildings, but is very hilly. The only somewhat flat spans were part of mile five and the last half mile. Miles 6 to 8.5 are all up followed by rolling hills and a mile of down.

I finished but it was ugly. I don't remember running much after mile 5. I tried in spurts but I got winded really quickly. My heart rate was between 130 and 140 walking, which for me is pretty high so I stopped nagging myself and started wondering if something was up. Then I noticed I had to go (pee) and stopped three times but couldn't go and that grew very annoying. I suspected a UTI but couldn't wrap my head around what that meant so just tried focusing on what I was doing. First I was really angry and then frustrated and then, when it hurt to jog downhill and walkers were passing, I just felt defeated. My time was awful. 3:50. If I hadn't already had the DNF, I probably would have walked away. At first I wanted to blame my training (I was unprepared, had been too easy on myself) and then my injuries (I'd lost too much conditioning, hadn't worked hard enough at the gym) but today I looked back at my time at the 15k on March 20th, which was better, so I don't think I can fault my training. I hate to admit it but I think that stupid infection made a big difference in what I was able to do. I am happy I ran but I need a do-over to prove to myself that I can actually run a HM because I sure didn't do it yesterday.

Thinking of running the Cleveland HM on 5/20. Is 2 wks really not enough time to bounce back from this long walk?

Hello everyone.  Got home Monday evening from my race, did work the following day so I was not able to post.  Anyways, had a blast with my 2nd HM.  No pressure, no cramps, and no dehydration.  Weather was cooperative, not too warm since it rained early Sunday morning 2 hours before the full marathon gun start.  I ranked #38 in my age group female.  Took half a clif bar and a banana before race.  Shot bloks every 2 miles and Nuun hydration, then ate the remaining clif bar at the mile 10.  Everything went well.  I had to use a McDonalds restroom to pee.  It was basically a flat race, just a small bridge that I jogged through.  There were cold sponges for the half and full marathon runners which was a godsend when it was getting warm.  At the expo, I was supposed to buy the 2xu compression tights, but run out of my size.   Does compression clothing really enhance one's athletic ability? 

Mary Kay - good job on finishing your first HM.  it shows how tough you are.  You persevered even  if you are feeling awful with the UTI.  You did not give up which is amazing.  Good luck on the Cleveland HM.

Andy - Congratulations on the 25k trail.  You are so right, just suck it up and run.  Please keep us updated on your Olympic triathlon training.  I will be starting my training too by May 15.  Will be taking a few  days off from any exercise activity. 

Eric - awesome job  for HM PR cutting 9 minutes off from a previous best time.  Amazing time.  Try not to dwell too much on the ifs.  You made a personal record and that is a 100% fact.  Don't second guess yourself.  You did great!

Run safe, run strong, run fierce.