Marching On...

From the lack of "I MADE IT INTO LEADVILLE!!!" post, you might guess that I didn't win the lottery. And you would be correct. (Unless you didn't guess. In which case we have some wonderful parting gifts for you.)

I didn't think I was that set on getting in, but when I got the rejection email, I was more disappointed than I realized. For a couple days I sulked about it, but there had to be a "Plan B". The good news is that I'll get to continue the progress I'm making in my running, and that I'll get to do more races this summer. The "big" early season goal will now be the Capital City Half Marathon on May 7, conveniently close by in downtown Columbus. This was actually the very first half marathon I ran, back in 2004. I ran it in 2:02:43, for a 9:23/mile average. This year, I have some bigger goals. I'd like to see if I can run it in 1:45. According to the plan I'm following, that ought to be right around what I have the fitness for. The course is flat and should be fast, with something like 300 feet of total climbing/descending over the whole 13 miles.

This race has grown quite a bit from that inaugural year. When I ran, there were around 2400 participants, and last year there were over 6000! I learned that they've even gone to a corral system this year based on your estimated finish time. And the cutoff for the first corral? 1:45. I swear I didn't know that before I filled it out! And seriously, who let me in the first corral? Pretty sure that's gotta be an oversight.

What else has been going on?

I'm still considering getting back into the Lifetime Indoor Tri that I did a couple years ago. Though I've not worked as much on swimming and biking over the winter, I think I could put in a respectable time. The local one is on April 3, so I need to make a decision pretty soon!

Broke double digit miles on a run for the first time since Cedar Point on Sunday. I'm pretty sure I have some form of Raynaud's, and despite fairly mild weather, my fingers were blocks of ice by the end. Meredith actually had to drive home because I couldn't use them for a good 10 minutes. If I'm going to train in the winter, I guess I need to come up with a better plan for keeping my hands and feet warm.

I've never EVER done as much speedwork as I am right now. Each week, I look at my "fast day" and wonder how I'm going to do it. And so far, I've surprised myself almost every time. This week is the biggest speed workout for the whole half marathon training plan in terms of distance, with a 6x1200 main set. Yikes!