I will try to update the blog more often. I really didn’t realize that it had been over 2 months. Since my Chicago meltdown, I paced the St. Jude Marathon, and have been just trying to maintain fitness. It has been difficult with the colder weather and no real goal in sight.
Following Chicago (10/10/10), I recovered well and went on to run a new PR approximately one month later at the Mid-South Marathon in Wynne, AR. This, somewhat, erased my failed effort at Chicago. I knew going into both races that I was fit and ready. My previous PR at this distance was 1:25:16, set earlier in the year. Last year on this same course, I ran 1:25:28. This year, I ran 1:23:59. The course was described as “gently rolling”, which it did.
I knew that I was pacing the 3:15 group at St. Jude and was more than confident in my ability. The month between the half-marathon PR and the marathon was uneventful. My motivation was lagging. My mileage was okay during this time, but there were no real workouts, just miles.
I was teamed with another pacer, Christian Minor. Christian was a young guy who had run XC and Track at FSU. He had never run a marathon, but had run a 1:07 half-marathon. He was a last minute pacer addition. Pacing duties were new to me. I had never been a part of a group, nor had I led anyone during a race. I didn’t know how much to motivate, etc. The morning started with some amount of stress, as we were riding with several of my wife’s friends. I had gotten the pacing director to allow me to bring my pacing “stick” home, so that I could modify it with my pacing band. She stressed that I be sure to bring it on Saturday morning, as there was only one stick for each group. I never forget things, I thought. I forgot the stick and stressed about it for a bit, but our group of 15-18 runners didn’t mind. The flourescent color shirts with “pacer” on the back gave me a way.
A friend of mine was actually in my group and boasted a PR of 3:17 and change. I floated back and forth, speaking to a number of runners along the way and felt rather comfortable. As our group dwindled until only a pack of 4 remained at the 20 mile mark. We were still on pace for 3:15. At that moment, I motioned for Christian to take the two stronger runners with him, while I stayed back with the other two, one of which was my friend. The wall was met at this moment and despite encouraging, their pace dwindled mile by mile. I finally went on ahead and finished in 3:19:30. My pacing partner eventually dropped his two runners and finished in 3:15, along the way drinking beer. The things we do when we’re young. He was only a few years removed from college.
Again, my recovery went well after St. Jude, but I struggled to find motivation to run in the cold. I toyed with the idea of running the Mardi Gras Marathon in late February. I also gave thought to running the Andrew Jackson Marathon in mid April. In a nutshell, I was done with marathon training for the time being.
I’m just now finding my motivation again, and have started doing track workouts. I feel my fitness coming around and the pounds that I put on during December are now slowly coming off.
I have a 10k in February, which my wife and I have won the last two years as a couple. They combine your times and avg. the age. A $50 gift card to Outback has served us well. This year the race falls on her birthday.
In March, I will run and hope to better my PR at the Germantown half-marathon.
