How embarrassing. No posts since September. I am ashamed. But, at least I didn’t stop running after the Tunnel Lite Marathon. Although, my weekly numbers dropped.
Not only did I keep running this fall but actually ran a race. An awesome trail run in December. Yes, that means a cold and rainy half marathon.
Reindeer Romp Half Marathon. The larger butt is mine.
Race recap:
I really didn’t know what to expect before the race. I missed several long runs, reduced many other runs. Didn’t stretch or work on core enough. Didn’t know the course, didn’t know how to set a target pace, due to elevation gain. And a good chance the weather would be pissy, cold rain.
Race day, pissy cold rain but at least it was a mild 49 degrees. Hard rain didn’t bother me at all but almost slipped, tripped or slide off course about 114 times. Literally. About 100 ran the half and another 100 ran 5miles. Started off and decided to run ‘moderate’ fast for a few miles. Crowd thinned quickly, no one within sight ahead of me from about mile 3 until mile 12. But, saw plenty going opposite direction on out and back loop trails. Picked up the pace several miles in and decided to give about 80% effort. One runner remained about 20 feet behind me from mile 4 until the finish. This guy really helped me keep pace up, didn’t want him to pass me. Felt like I was running much faster than my splits but I didn’t tire. I felt strong throughout- my level of fitness was shocking. Expected to run out of gas about mile 10 but didn’t happen. REALLY surprised how I could keep the legs turning.
No cramps, knee, GI, hammy issue or calf issues. Knew there weren’t too many folks ahead of me, thought maybe 10. Felt kinda bad passing one guy 50 feet from the finish- he had cramped up bad. Shock of shock, finish 5th. Remember this was tiny race. Most impressed with the fact that the four guys ahead of me were all in 20s and 30s. And the dude behind me who never passed me- 53 years old!
Overall, very pleased with this effort. Enjoyed the course, friendly volunteers, would run it again. Post race, not too sore. Guess I’m comparing it to my standard post ‘marathon’ soreness. More sore Sunday and Monday but really not too bad. I may try to run another trail race before our departure.
BTW, I don’t think I’ve mentioned something kinda big that will impact the entire family. We are moving to China.
26.2 with Toddler 
Wow! Good luck in China!
Thanks. I’ll likely need it.
Holy cow! Big change! Good luck!
Thanks. Excited and terrified.
Cannot wait to see more posts! What’s taking you there?
I think this move will be just the change I need to start posting on a regular basis again. My wife took a new job with an NGO, so we move to Beijing in a few weeks. Likely stay about two years.
And you just won the award for BEST finish to a post!!
Amazing!!!!
Thanks. Next few months will be a wild run. Since I will not be working in China, I expect a big jump in my postings. Thanks for reading.