One mile at a time

Feeling all of 54.  I am not as sore as I have been in the past, but that may be experience or the Advil talking.  I made the run without any issues and was back home by noon.  After a long run like that one, I will strive to keep moving.  At my tender age, I tend to stiffen up if I sit for long periods afterwards.   

Sunday's run was pretty much the way I had expected it.  After 4 years, I don't need no stinkin' map to figure out the route.  The route was exactly the same as last year, so I am not going to bore everyone with the mile by mile commentary.  It was about the same as last year, sans the rain.  The weather was chilly, but not cold.  We started out at about 36 degrees, and I was sporting an old sweatshirt I had from Germany.  A lot of people toss their gear within the first mile or two, so I figured that I would wear this old sweatshirt and toss it at the outset.  The weather was't as cold as I had expected, so I tossed my jacket around the start,  I am pretty sure that my lack of training runs really wore me down this year.  My pace was good at the start, but I started to fade around mile 6.  I managed to push on though the 2nd half  stretch but I hit the wall at mile 10.  I was able to limp along running/walking the route and when I made the turn headed back to downtown around mile 11 at 2 hours I tried to kick it up a notch.  At 11 miles, that leaves me with a little over 2 miles and I could have bested my old pace if I could hold to the current pace, but I was pretty much played out.  I have cramped up on past runs, with one quad cramping. but today was different.  At 11, I was walking more than running.  Tried to kick it into an old "airborne shuffle" to keep moving but I ran out of gas.  At some point I realized that there was nothing left in the tank.  As hard as I tried to kick it up, it wasn't happening.  I did have enough left to run the final 1/2 mile across the finish line, but I was pretty much done.  I had hoped for a little better showing and I shouldn't be too unhappy with my time (2 minutes off of last year), but I could have done better, if only I had done more training.  As I had figured, I could make the distance, but what got me was the time.  I try to run several times every week but those are shorter runs.  Usually 3-4 miles during lunch with something longer on Fridays (if I have no afternoon meetings).  I need to do longer, 12+ miles runs to build stamina to keep up the pace through the full race.               


They had posted everyone's race results posted by early Sunday afternoon and pictures by Tuesday.

My brother actually decided to come down and root me on and we drove the route on Saturday.  It is an different route when you drive it in a car.  We cut through several areas of the downtown I would definitely not got into after dark.  It was nice to have a pit crew cheering me on around mile 6.  I usually do this run by my lonesome, so I get to see all the sideshows where people are cheering on their family members or loved ones.  I kinda like seeing all the side support when we run the route.  Of course, plugged into my iPod for the trek, I don't hear the bells, whistles, horns, music, yelling as much.  It is a bit uplifting to hear people shout out your name (it is printed clearly on the bib) in encouragement as you run past.  Spotted many funny signs/people along the trail.  The one that stuck with me was  being held up by a VERY pregnant woman that simply said:  "Ron  Hurry Up.  I think my water broke".   


They have already posted registration for next year's Marathon (01/13/2013) and I am considering going for #5 (unless I sober up).