Why I Do What I Do

People often ask me why do you do these events?



This weekend, that's why! We had a blast. I don't know any other way to get 4 couples together to hang out without their kids for a weekend on the North Shore. I mean, sure you might talk about getting together, maybe even check everyone's calendars, but without an EVENT, you'll never get it put together. And hardly any one will travel hundreds of miles for 5k.



This was our 5th straight Grandma's Weekend. Some of the names and faces have changed but we haven't had a bad time yet.



Our friends from Dallas elected not to come up this year. Both of them have been fighting injuries and OB said he couldn't bear watching from the sidelines 2 years in a row. Hopefully Angie will stay healthy for San Antonio and OB will be running by then (just not 1/2 marathons yet).



Stomper Rob (who I'm not sure really likes his nickname, particularly since he's taken most of the stomp out of his stride after the stress fracture) ran his first full this year and finished upright (although I don't think he was smiling). Jim ran his second and set a PR by a minute and and half. Rob T set a PR in the 1/2 by something like 8 minutes. I suprisingly ran my second best 1/2 ever from a time perspective. From an accomplishment standpoint I think it may have been my best race ever.



We all had a charmed day. It only stormed when we were at Lil Angie's for lunch or under the tent dancing to GB Leighton. Hanging out at Grand Superior that night was awesome. Next time we'll have stake out a fire ring early.


Race Report



As I reported earlier, I was approaching this race with some trepidation. I wasn't sure I'd be fully recovered from Rockman. I really wasn't looking forward to the possible slog on the second half. I came up with a plan. Try and run the first half of the race in 9:30 to 10:00 minute miles. Some of you are probably thinking that sounds a lot like jogging and not running. But for a guy who's deep into the clydesdale division that's running. I was hoping to prevent the 11:00 minute miles (or longer) that happened last year. Then I thought I would try and pick it up for the second half if I had anything in the tank.



Turns out I didn't quite follow the plan. I felt strong all morning. I kept telling myself to slow down in the first half but I was still running 9:14s. My quads didn't start complaining until mile 7 or 8. What a nice change from Rockman. It's amazing how much easier it is to run a 1/2 marathon without having first biked 56 miles.



Around mile 8 I tried to drop it down to see if I could get under the magical 9:07s to break 2 hours. That wasn't happening. Once it became clear I wasn't going to manage that I started to fade a bit (especially in the last mile). Final chip time of 2:03:05. I'll take it!



Here are my splits compared to last year. (Thanks for the graphical presentation OB):

Registration for CDA today at 2:00 CDT. I'll let you know how it goes.