Post #9

2ND RACE OF 2006 (NOT MY BEST)

Well, I did the Disney 1/2 Marathon today, Saturday, Jan. 7th. Had to get up at 2 a.m. in order to be at the buses to the race start at 4 a.m. Not that the race started at 4 a.m., the race actually started at 6 a.m. The race organizers wanted all runners in the starting area by 4 a.m.

This made for a very long cold time before the race started since it was about 35 degrees this morning at 4 a.m. I dressed pretty warm since I knew it was going to be a long wait. Of course the race organizers wanted all of the extra clothing checked in by 4:30 a.m., so I froze from 4:30 a.m. until the race started at 6 a.m.

Due to the slow start, narrow roads and slow runners in front of me, I didn't get to run at my own pace until after mile 3 and by then I just decided it wasn't worth it to try to make up the time. I ended up running the race about 14 minutes slower that I had planned.

Even though it sounds like I was miserable I still really liked the race. The cold is what made the race seem so harsh. If it would have been warmer weather it would have been great and I would have probably tried to get around the crowds. Being so cold I just stayed in the pack for the body heat.

Then of course there is the training, my longest run during my whole training plan was about 6 slow miles. It is very hard to race 13.1 miles when your base is about 12 miles a week. This just indicates that I should train longer and faster.

Well, I guess there is always next year.