Friday, July 01, 2016

Lets review the first 6 months of 2016

 Looking back at my forecast for the year I posted  in early January I have to say things are going a lot better than I thought they would at this point and there were a few surprises along the way.

 As you who read this stuff know, I was out with an injury for almost all of January which was really putting a damper on my upcoming plans and I was a bit frustrated. I am quite happy to say that I am pleased with my current condition and feeling a bit more optimistic going into the 2nd half of the year. More on that soon but now lets look back.

January

No running and I had to cancel plans to return to Ocean Isle Beach. The one good thing is that with no running I finally found time to join Laura for a Bikram Yoga class. Turned out to be a great thing and I am still going regularly. More on that soon also.

February

I was able to start back running but not much training. Just trying to get in miles and stay healthy

 March

 I was really hoping to crush this one at the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon but with the lack of training my new goal was to get in a solid workout. And then Friday before the race I wake up with 102F fever and an upper respiratory infection. With ibuprofen and an inhaler I got the fever down and decided to go ahead and give the race a shot. Probably a big mistake. Somehow I ran a very respectable 1:50 half marathon but I hurt so bad afterwards. Felt like a truck was parked on my chest.

 Two weeks later it was time for the Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon. I was off the antibiotics a few  and the breathing was about normal but only a few miles since MB. Wow, the race went great ! I felt fine and dropped my time down to 1:47:53 and placed 2nd in my age group in a large race.

 April

 Time for Boston. Went in way under trained but made the most of it. Went, enjoyed the experience and ran better than I should have expected in 4:12.

 May

 I had nothing at all on the calender after Boston other than the idea I wanted to run some shorter stuff through the summer including maybe some track races. I had always thought the Medoc Spring Race sounded like fun so I decided this was the year. Despite practically no single track running in a year I had a very strong run and placed 33rd and got one of the hats that only go to the top 50 finishers.

 Two weeks later I was running for the RRCA State Championship at the NCRC Classic 10k. A great day where everything just clicked. I ran 47:42, my fastest 10k in probably 25 years and won the Senior Grandmaster Award !

 June

 Only a couple of weeks before I entered the Rocky Mount Mills 5k. A miserably hot and humid day but I ran well and got a 2nd place age group award in 23:03. Gave me confidence I could run faster very soon with some decent weather 

 2 weeks later was an event I had just decided soounded like fun, The Raleigh RunDown Downhill Mile. I wanted to race some miles on the track but this seemed like a good time. Had an awesome race. With the assist from gravity and good weather I crushed a 6:04 !

 I ended up the month with my first track race in 17years.  A good experience just missing my goal by 3 seconds. With better pacing I feel confident I can get below 6:30.

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