This took some work to go back and look things up and I’m not really into doing a lot of work, so read and make me feel better about the time I spent on this post.

• Training plans. Do or die.

• The Humble Brag. 

• Runner on runner unsolicited advice.

• #Runchat – Good Lord look at that. #woof

• Running bloggers & even worse their race reports. Example: Here you go. No fear, in proper runner form- I drop my PR VERY LOUD and clear at the beginning of this post. 

• All the poop talk. Gross.

• Calling the treadmill the dreadmill. It’s not THAT bad and it DOES work. Settle down you outdoor running snob. 

• Obsessively checking the weather. Everyone has to run in the same conditions and you can’t do anything about it so settle down. No seriously, settle down about the weather. 

These first five guys run together sometimes and they are all really fast- Collin had an absolutely incredible day. I saw him at miles 16 and 25; running 6:17 pace he was all smiles. He had it going on. I’ve never seen someone race a marathon looking so fresh and HAPPY. 

Collin: 2:44:29 – PR

Collin at mile 16.4 trucking up a hill

Josh: 2:53:31- PR

Glenn: 2:54:28 – PR

Michael: 2:56 – PR… maybe?!

Glenn & Josh at mile 25.4

Sean: 3:05:45 – First Marathon

Bryon: 3:03:50 – PR and first BQ

Scott: 2:29:43 – Um, just fast. (twitter friend)

Amy: 3:49:15 – PR

Katy: 3:42:15 – PR 

Gabe: 3:38:41 – PR

David: 3:16:21 – PR

Jen: 3:30 – PR

Dan: 3:37:09

Brian: 3:24:46

Liz: 4:25:02

Sarah: 2:59:16

Peter: 4:57:12 – First Marathon

Jimmy: 5:12:42 – First Marathon

Megan: 4:27:09 – First Marathon

Nikki: 4:39:45 – First Marathon

Marty: 4:58:41 – First Marathon

A couple of local ladies I twitter stalk who are insanely fast:

Jackie Dikos: 2:48:19

Lucie Mays-Sulewski: 2:48:38

Mile 16 all packed up! These ladies are freaking tough.

Half Marathoners: 

Ashley: 1:37:03 – (my running BFF who ran a 3:17 marathon 3 wks ago!)

Brandon: 1:35:39

Lauren: 1:48:03 – PR (Oiselle Teammate!) 

Jake and Meghan: 2:10:34 – PR for Jake!

Meggie: 2:13:35

Melanie: 2:18:46 – PR (Her race recap is already up!) 

Kathy: 3:01:47 – First half marathon

Blake: 2:07:17 – PR

Chrissy: 3:03:20 – PR

Saw Chrissy just past mile 12 & ran with her for a bit.

Todd: 1:31:03 – PR

Larra: 1:31:53

Debra: 2:05:53 – PR

Melissa: 2:31:58 – 11 out of 12 half marathons in 2013 raising money for BoMF Indy!

Barb: 2:19:11 – PR

LOT’S of BoMFers!! (Gardner’s, Outta Site, Dan (3:50 pacer!!), Christie, Etc!)

Oh my, I’m sure I missed someone we know. I tried to dig up everyone!

And people I don’t know but are simply amazing: 

• Mike Fremont: Age 91: who ran the half in 3:24:57

• Alana Hadley: Age 16: 2:41:56

• Colleen De Reuck : Age: 49 won the woman’s race in 2:39:22

Colleen De Reuck at mile 25 after she took the lead to head in for the W.

So, then we spent Sunday morning watching NYC Marathon coverage. Oh my goodness and I know you’ve probably all seen Meb’s post race video by now- but if not, make sure you watch it. I love that he finished the race. I’ve always said unless I was physically injured I will finish every race I start no matter how ugly it gets. I understand why people might decide to dropout to prevent injury or maybe save it for another day, but I very much respect what he did. How can you not.

Glenn and I have talked about this topic a lot and especially over the past few weeks after his Chicago blowup.  I asked him if he were to have started walking at mile 18 or 19 on to the finish when he knew for sure that any hope of meeting a PR (let alone his actual goal time) was out the window – would that have improved his race at IMM?

The obvious answer is “probably”. If you endure running 26.2, you are not going to be recovered in 3 weeks. Plain and simple. It’s not rocket science. It’s science, but simple science.

I know a lot of people advised Glenn against giving the 26.2 another shot so soon… but here’s the deal. He’s not an elite athlete, while he takes himself seriously, he doesn’t take himself too seriously and dang it he wanted to race again before he hung it up for the fall. There was a good chance he would blow up again. He wasn’t racing at a prime time. But, he worked his ass off and took 2 minutes off a fairly outdated PR. (The whole Ironman thing in 2012, paired with a mild injury spring 2013 delayed him giving it a go)

We’ve both set some pretty BIG goals and steps in taking times off our half and full marathons recently and while they are totally attainable, it’s important to remember to celebrate the smaller steps that get you there. Two minutes is a lot of time no matter how fast or slow you run and going from a 2:56 to 2:54 is something to celebrate.

I’m super proud. I know he gave it all he had on Saturday and this should give him some great confidence for what he can do on fresh legs in the spring.

I can’t forget to mention- IMM keeps getting better and better. Blake, Casey, Heather & whoever else is involved have done a great job. Congratulations on a great race guys! And Thank you so much to everyone in the city, including many BoMF Residential Members & volunteers who volunteered long hours!

Post Race! The amazing thing about IMM is it’s pretty darn easy to find your runner post race!!

Congratulations times a million to everyone this weekend! You all inspired me for when I can get back at training & I had an absolute blast cheering you on and watching you dig deep. Also congrats to everyone who ran NYC!!! (Hollie, Beth and all the other Oiselle gals and Patty!)

Glenn’s going to have his race recap ready tomorrow!!! YIPPIE!!

One of my best friends is a recovering addict. I’ve been to hell and back with him and now have a friendship far greater than I could have ever imagined. Our friendship and his recovery overwhelm me at times in a good way; I just can’t believe how far he’s come. I admire his strength and preservation. Through this relationship I’ve learned so much about addiction and want to help other addicts. I believe this passion, matched with service to others being a core personal value and my love-hate relationship with running makes BoMF the perfect organization for me.

Race reports aren’t near as fun to write when you didn’t have a good race… I need to get it out though. Writing about it has helped me move along a little. 

Ashley and her husband Brandon picked my up in the AM and we headed downtown.We warmed up close to a mile, wanted to do more but we were a little short on time. It was all good though. 

We creeped up right behind the girls who were in it to win it and let them fade away while we ran together for the first 2-3 miles. 

I had some major mental and physical struggles during this race. I put in some great training and thought it was the perfect timing coming off the half ironman. Plenty of recovery time, plenty of time to ramp things back up and get some speed in my legs. 

I’m going to be totally honest here. I ran a stupid race. That happens, but I have enough experience as a runner to know better than to race like that.

First of all, I knew it was hot. I should have adjusted my goal a little because of that. I am by no means using the heat as my excuse for my goal bonk. YES, it was a big factor and did slow me down, but I slowed down way more than the heat should have affected me. I know how I run in the heat and this wasn’t the sole reason it was a bad race for me. Another small factor; not an excuse, just a factor is I was just about to my period and my body and life felt extra heavy. You know how we females get extra emotional and crazy once a month, plus feel like we weigh 1,000 lbs? Yeah, that decided to happen around this day.

I started out way too fast. It was stupid. I knew it was, but I was all big headed about it. My watch was being funny and I couldn’t tell what pace I was running based on what it was telling me. When we rolled over mile 1 and my split read 6:32, I knew I was doing exactly what I told myself not to do. I said “too fast” and then proceeded to do it again for mile 2.

I ran mile 2 right at 6:32 again.  Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

Here I am early on, making bad decisions…. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

Even if my watch was being wacky… I know my body well enough to feel the difference between a 6:30 mile and a 6:50 mile. I was paranoid I would accidentally run too slow though. Clearly, it  would have served me well to have started off a little slow.

I settled into a 6:45ish pace for miles 3-5 and things started crashing a bit at mile 5. I didn’t feel terrible, but I knew I had gone out too hard and could already foresee my very near future.

Throughout miles 5 and 6, I tried to regroup. Gave myself some pep talks. When I hit mile 6.5, my goal was to ramp it back up. I tried to convince myself to get through these next 6.5 miles at the pace I wanted. I remembered the tough workouts. The 6 mile tempo run I did that went really well. But it just wasn’t there. I would surge to see if I could settle into a faster pace, but every time I did that, I wound up slowing back down even more.

I was holding on to 8th place nearly the entire race. They had bikers with all of the “lead” runners so I could hear them radioing where everyone was. Glenn had been planning to jump in and run with me around mile 8, but that wasn’t allowed so he had to just cheer and move along. Then somewhere around mile 9 or 10, I got passed by Leslie (who I met after the race, of course.. and she is awesome.) and a then little before mile 11, I got passed, by Ashley. I wasn’t expecting it to be her, based on how she was talking pre race. But I was so excited that it was and tried to stay with her, but my body was screaming no. She told me to stop being a sissy and come with her, but I had nothing. Absolutely nothing to give.

I’ve probably said this before about other races, but I’ve  never wanted to stop, walk, cry, sit down and just be done more in my life. I don’t know what was happening to me. I felt crazy… had no clue how to make my body move faster. I clocked a 7:38 mile at mile 11. Yikesssssss. This is slower than any mile I ran during the entire marathon at Shamrock. A race double the distance. My gosh, I was a mess. A 7:38 mile should feel easy, it felt really hard. I just kept slowing. I saw my mom somewhere around then. I wasn’t a happy camper. 

Going into this race and any race for that matter, my goal is never what place I get, it’s always a time goal for myself. But once you’re out there racing, the place ends up mattering. Somewhere around mile 11.5, the guys on the bikes were saying it was going to be an interesting race for 10th place. GAH. Sounded like the girl behind me was gaining on me. Not surprising considering how much I was letting my pace go. Then they were talking about a pack of three clumped together behind her. Well wouldn’t that be terrible if they all went zooming past me and I went from 8th place to 12th?

Part of me said F this, I don’t give a crap about any of this, I just want to stop, pass me all you want. The other part of me, of course, said you’ve worked this hard the whole race and you’ve already let your goal go, don’t let your place go right now.

This is the last 400 meters. Get me to the finish. Ick.  Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

I really wasn’t able to dig and pick my pace up to a decent speed again until a half mile to go. I thought about the ladder workout I did a few weeks ago and how much I pushed on the 800’s and how bad it hurt then… reminded myself if I pushed that hard in a workout I ought to make it hurt now. 

I was practically in tears when I finished. I gave Ashley a big hug, pretty much fell on top of her. I was exhausted. I knew somewhere around mile 8 that my goal was slipping away from me fast. But I didn’t think it would slip away that hard. I honestly thought on a not so good day, I’d roll in around 1:31ish and on a great day, I’d roll in around 1:28. I guess it was worse than a not so good day. My official finish time was 1:33:14.

Leslie, Ashley and I – 8th, 9th and 10th place. These are the badass ladies who kicked my ass in the last 3 miles…

With my momma post race.

Ashley taking care of me post race. I returned the favor. I can’t even talk about how much I’m obsessed with this girl.

We did win $100 for placing in the top 10 and will be “invited” to return next year, so I’m not complaining about that!

This is all ok though. You learn from races like this. And not matter how many half marathons or marathons I do, there is always a lesson. Did I know I shouldn’t go out that hard prior to the race? Yes. But I did it anyway. This is the exact reason back in December, I ran a marathon for the sole purpose of running a negative split and proving to myself this is a much better way to race. I preach it all the time, I have to do it myself.

While I really want to break 1:30, my next goal is to force myself to negative split the half… or at least come damn near close to it. Go out at a 7 minute mile and slowly speed up. Rather than just the opposite like I so miserably did on Saturday. Hopefully that will lead me to a new PR at the very least and if I break 1:30 in the process… perfect. But one thing at a time. (I’ve been literally obsessing over Laura’s splits from the the VA Beach half this weekend. She tweeted her splits on Sunday after the race and I thought… why couldn’t you have been that smart yesterday Lindsey? That was a very smart way to run on such a hot day… props to you Laura!)

It’s good to have big goals so long as they are realistic. I’m not saying you can’t dream big… and I’m not backing out on the fact that I know I am capable of running the 1:28 I so badly wanted. But for me, right now I need to take a smaller step. And that is totally fine. Everyone is different. Glenn and I are so very different. I don’t want to say he works harder than me, although I think he generally does haha, but he is the kind of person who can make really big jumps a lot and it doesn’t scare him. Right now though, mentally I need to take a smaller step and that’s just what’s going to happen. Nothing wrong with that.

I know if I want to become a smarter runner, I have to teach myself lessons like this. It’s like anything in life, in the process of growing, you have slip ups. You unfortunately make not so stellar decisions sometimes. But they ultimately become significant steps in the learning process that are necessary.

Am I bummed? Yes. Am I over it? I’d like to say yes, but I’m not. I really wanted bang out this race and kill it. I had my heart set on it.

Since I have my surgery in 4 weeks. Ahhh, 4 weeks. (Deep breath. Clear my head. It’s OK.) And I won’t be racing for a few months, I wanted this to be my big celebration race.

Beyond my surgery, I’m not sure what will be going down. I plan on running as soon as I can once I’m cleared but am not certain how this next year will look. There are much more important things than the time on the clock when I cross a finish line that I’m going to be focused on in this near future. I so badly wanted this last pre-surgery race to be all that I dreamed it would be and it just wasn’t. Guess what though. It’s not that big of a deal and I need to chill out. Life goes on.

Enough boo hooing about the race though. Congratulations to all the ladies who worked hard on Saturday- it was pretty darn hot out there. 

I decided to do the race on Tuesday and told my friend Ashley (friend I picked up from the Carmel Marathon, yep that’s how it went down. Got her digits after the race). Ashley and I have ran together a few times since Carmel and we were trying to find a day this week to run. I invited her to do the race and she rode down with Glenn, Marshall and I.

I’d never raced a 6 miler before. I haven’t raced a 5K in a long time either, other than the 3 miles I raced in the sprint triathlon a few weeks ago. Although that wasn’t actually a 5K, 3 miles instead of 3.1,  it’s basically the same thing. But not a true measure of what I could do since it was in a triathlon.

Going into this race, I said I’d go out at a 6:40ish mile. Haha. That’s funny right? (see mile 1 split below) Whenever I think about the pace I want to run, it always sounds fast and makes me nervous (of course). And then I go out way faster than that. 

Ashley and I went out together but parted a little before we hit mile 1. We knew we were going out too hard but seriously my watch is all wacky the first mile or so, adjusting and I just couldn’t tell how fast I was really going. I mean I looked down at one point and my watch said 5:15, I knew that wasn’t true and didn’t want to accidentally go out too slow! Looking at my splits, I think going out at 6:25 would have been smart and doable. Before the race though- I thought going out at 6:25 would be too fast. So I went ahead and went out at 6:04. Wha???

The first two miles did feel pretty controlled though- I kept telling myself, you need to feel fairly comfortable these first two miles if you want to make it through the next 4 without hopping on the struggle bus. 

I saw Glenn and Marshall at mile 2.5, and Glenn told me it looked like I wasn’t working very hard. I actually think that was what I needed to hear. This is why- if it looked like I wasn’t working too hard, that meant I was in control and hopefully would have it in me to pick it up or at least stay on the same pace and really put some hard work in the second half of the race.

Mentally, at this point though, I was just wondering how I would feel later in the race, since I’ve never raced this distance and was unsure about if I was running faster than I was really capable. Based on my 2 mile repeats last week, it seemed like I was on a right pace for me, but I only did two of them and that was only for 2 miles at a time right? I had 2 extra miles and no stops today. But I was racing, so I should naturally work harder and be speedier than in a workout. 

There was one girl right ahead of me at this point, but I didn’t realize she was the only one. I thought there were a couple speeedsters up with the faster guys running sub 6’s or close to it. I surged a few times in the next mile and passed her but she kept surging back. We went back and forth at least three times. It was kind of annoying, but I think it made me push. 

Then another girl came out of now where. She cruised by, looking comfortable and I thought about trying to go with for a brief second but figured it was too early to pick it up like that. Around mile 4, I finally got rid of the other girl I’d been back and forth with. I surged again and she didn’t come with. 

Mile 5 was hard, but a good turning point for me. I kept telling myself to get through this mile and the last mile would work itself out no matter what. (I do this in workouts too… get to the last mile and push her in) I knew mile 4 was a slow one so I should pick it up. When I slowed during mile 4, I knew I was and was hoping it would give me some time to regroup and push harder the last two. I knew the slowing down wasn’t giving up. So I did the work and got to mile 5. I kept telling myself that I felt good so I could push harder if I wanted to.

We were headed back to the start/finish now and a spectator told me I was the second place girl. I could see the girl in first, I had my eye on her for pretty much the entire last two miles and I think I made a little ground since she had passed me, but I didn’t have it in me to catch and told myself I should be really pleased with second place. With a half mile to go, I gave the look back (which I NEVER do) to see if there were in girls within chase distance of me. I saw only two guys coming up but I really could have cared less about them. Since I didn’t see any girls, I think I let up my kick a little bit, not much as it ended up being my third fastest mile in 6:21, BUT if I hadn’t known there wasn’t someone right behind me, I might have ran that last half mile more like there was. 

With a quarter mile to go, there were people handing out American flags, so that was fun to run in with the flags. It made the race feel special.

Then I saw the girl who won break the tape. She finished 23 seconds ahead of me. Although during the race, I told myself I was happy with 2nd, when I saw her take 1st, I felt a little disappointed it wasn’t me. I never found her to congratulate her, but I did find the girl who finished behind me that went back and forth with me for a long time. I congratulated her and quickly realized how young she was. She looked like she was in high school- but I looked up her age group and she was 19-24. Still young.

Instead of being disappointed with missing 1st, I quickly reminded myself that I run my own race and although it’s good to be competitive and yeah it would have been nice to take the W, what I love about running is that you are competing against yourself. I run my own race and for me, that was a PR, a new distance that I’ve never raced and I am pleased with how I handled myself. I never had a blow up, which was what I was nervous about. Early on in the run, I pictured how I might let myself creep down to 6:50-7:00 miles and I was mentally and physically strong enough to not go there, so I’m happy with that.

During the race I also thought about how I’d like to run a half marathon at a pace fairly close to this and I can’t even talk about how bad that would hurt. And one thing I proved to myself during this race is that I should probably be running my miles repeats faster than I do. I kind of want to throw up thinking about it though.

My friend Ashley ended up taking 5th- pretty darn fast, with an average pace of 6:36 miles. Now if only I can convince her to come to speedwork with us on Wednesdays.

After race picture with Marshman– Don’t worry- he got a haircut today! His first.

I’d do this race again – I like doing races on holidays. It’s a positive and uplifting way to start the day and then you get to celebrate and enjoy the rest of the day. I do kind of wish it was an actual 10K instead of just 6 miles, so I’d have a 10K time, but oh well. Another day, I’ll make that happen. Oh and had Glenn ran this race- we calculated paces out and on a good day- he also would have taken 2nd. Well, wouldn’t that have been cute?

After the race, we packed up and headed to good old Crown Point for some Hein family time. 

I wasn’t really ready to start running 6 days a week and high mileage again. I had just trained pretty hard for a marathon and was really ready for a break. BUT, though I liked the idea of taking a break, I’m not good at taking breaks, I like to push myself and I like having a plan. 

After a week into the half marathon plan, I wanted to have something to shoot for but I didn’t want to run that many miles. So, I decided to train for a half Ironman. Glenn changed my plan to train for the Muncie Half Ironman in July, while still training for a half marathon. It’s a lot of working out, but less running, which is what I really needed a break from. I’m down to running only four days a week now. I know I could run a faster half marathon if I kept my focus on the half, but I just flat out don’t want to do that.

All this to say- my plan last Saturday called for 15 miles steady state. My steady state pace should be 7:00-7:30 pace. Realistically if I were our running this on my own, I’d probably do 7:20ish and 7:35ish if I had the stroller. 

Glenn had a bib for the Carmel full marathon because that’s where he had planned on tearing up his PR and running a hella fast 26.2. And, Back on My Feet runs the Carmel half every year, so I would be out there anyway, so I just decided to use Glenn’s bib and run the half as my 15 miles steady state workout. Yes, it’s two less miles and no I didn’t run steady state. What’s the fun in always following a plan so perfectly that you have no wiggle room for fun sometimes? Running a hard 13 sounded like a lot more fun if I did it in a race, opposed to on the monon by myself.

Glenn was poo pooing this whole idea because he thought I would race it and wouldn’t follow the plan. And the plan is not to race until my half- which is supposed to be mid May. He’s too much of a stickler sometimes. 

•  I have a really outdated half PR and if I can break it on a “training run race”, I want to. 

• Who cares if I run a half marathon twice in 4 weeks. You recover from a half marathon quick and it’s just completely different than recovering from a full

• My freaking goal race was Shamrock, it’s done, let me do what I want man.

Post race picture of my battle wounds.

Splits:

Mile 1- 6:51

Mile 2- 6:38 (the pace group went out a bit slow, so they were making up time on this mile… I don’t usually like hanging with pace groups because I like to do my own thing, but did hang with them on Saturday just for the beginning)

Mile 3- 6:48

Mile 4- 6:56

Mile 5- 6:58

Decision making time. My legs were tired here, like way too tired for being at mile 5. So I decided to slow down. I could have hung on with them for a few more miles, but it would have made for a scary, slothy ending. Bye Bye 1:30 pace group. I told myself- hey remember your aren’t really racing this? Even though part of me wanted to try to stick with them, I knew it wasn’t happening in the long run.

Mile 6- 7:17

Mile 7- 7:13

Right around here, I heard a girl coming up on me. Well really I saw her pony tail shadow. I always try to encourage other females who pass me or are around me and I said “good job girl” or something like that. She was friendly right back. Her husband was riding his bike next to her and she offered for him to carry my hat and gloves that I was carrying. Awesome… I was really sick of carrying them.

I let her go for a minute and then sped back up and told her I was going to try to hang with her for a bit. She said she was dying and would like that…. girlfriend kept pushing right along. She definitely helped me pick my pace back up these next two miles.

Mile 8- 7:04

Mile 9- 7:04

Mile 10- 7:34

Mile 11- 7:25

Two miles to go, I decided to finish up a little stronger. My legs had been tired since mile 4 really and that was my real problem but I didn’t want to keep slowing down. I pictured myself being at mile 24 of a full marathon and imagined how much worse I hurt at the end of most marathons and decided I should be able to run it in a little faster. Had I not picked it back up, I think I would have finished feeling like I just gave up. The only two miles I’m really not thrilled about are 10 and 11. I let myself slow down too much- I would be more satisfied if they were more like 7:15 pace. 

Mile 12- 7:02

Mile 13- 6:52 

Finish Time-  1:33:56

Place – 7th Female out of 792, 3rd in Age Group out of 117

And this is random, but does anyone else think it’s weird that the girl (who is obviously a badass & is actually a  pro triathlete) that was pacing the 1:30 group placed 4th? Not that it matters if I placed 6th or 7th, I just feel like since she was a pacer there to help the other athletes she shouldn’t place? If I would have been 4th and she 3rd, it would probably bother me, but beyond top 3 I don’t really care I suppose. Clearly she would have won the whole thing if she was actually racing.

At the finish, the friend that I met at mile 8 was hanging out and I got my gloves and hat from her husband. She ended up finishing in 3:33:05 I think. We chatted a bit and exchanged numbers. She’s ran a 3:21 full PR, wants to run sub 1:30 for a half, also likes to ride bikes. I think I perhaps found someone to run and ride with.

Anyway, even though my time was a PR, and I am happy with a PR…. the pace was literally only 3 seconds per mile faster than what I rolled through the half marathon mark at Shamrock.  I figured since I ran my half so quickly in the full, regardless of tired legs, the pace would feel a lot easier for 13.1. I would have probably been pissed if I ran it slower than my half time in the full. It was only 40 or so seconds total faster.
  
I knew I was running on tired legs– I had ran Rock the Relay (6 X 2.2 Mile Repeats) the previous Saturday, did a rough tempo on Wednesday, a hard spinning workout on Friday with lot’s of easyish stuff in between. There was nothing fresh about my legs.

During the race when my legs were feeling pretty blah, I kept thinking about how I really don’t want to race a half again soon, (but I will), I was also thinking about how if my legs felt so heavy during this half, they are probably really going to feel heavy in the half Ironman.

My breathing and the rest of my body felt pretty good , so I’m pretty sure if I’m having a good, not tired leg day, I can  keep that quicker pace for the entire 13.1. I’ll need a good week and a half taper probably and should be in good shape to break this time at Giest. (If I ever pull the trigger on registering!)

Another note about Carmel- for a a couple of weeks, during my Shamrock training, I almost decided to have Carmel be my full marathon instead of Shamrock, so we wouldn’t have to travel and spend money on the trip. But I decided I didn’t want to drag my training on that long, I wanted to get on with the damn thing.  I’m still glad I did this, but I can’t help but think how much faster I could have ran Carmel than I ran Shamrock. The weather was perfect, temps were cool but not too cool and wind was minimal. I feel like sans the wind, I could have shaved a good 3 minutes off my time. Maybe I would have been burnt out, but it’s likely I would have been more powerful with a few extra weeks of training. You can’t dwell on stuff like that though. So I’ll stop thinking about it now that I’ve typed it out right?

Some other great things about today– all of the Back on My Feet accomplishments, lot’s of guys who ran their first half marathon today, all of the amazing Back on My Feet supporters who worked water stops on our behalf. So many people stepped up and helped out and I am thankful for every single person who did.

I also met one of my twitter friends, Josh @jbakeindy- who had a goal of running sub 1:50 and ran a 1:46. I’d say that’s success. He’s a big trail runner and ran a trail marathon just for fun the previous weekend. Just a hunch, but I bet he’d destroy that 1:46 on fresh legs…..

With my twitter friend-  JBakeIndy

With BoMF Member Leon- who ran his 3rd or 4th half marathon. He’s an old pro at it by now.

Some of the BoMF crew after the race, waiting on a few of more Members to finish.

On to some more triathlon training this week and the next half will be here soon. This past week was a light week because I was super busy with my last big week at work.