Flushing, MI
1:26:31 (6:37/mile pace)
14th overall
3rd in age

     So I knew that I had 4 weeks between marathons and so I decided back in January to enter this small town half marathon. I had recently singed up on eHarmony (no snickers please) and about a week before the actual race, I met a woman there and we hit it off very nicely. We were planning on making our first date the day AFTER the race, but after some chatting, she decided to drive from Kalamazoo to Jackson to meet me at 5:45am on race morning. Yes, out first date was a 90 minute drive early ealy Saturday morning to Flushing, MI for a road race. My (now) girlfriend, Misty also decided to enter the 5K walk that was going on at the same time. I think that qualifies for one of the coolest first dates ever.

The race itself was ok. The race course was just around local city streets and then two large loops out on country roads. About a mile into the race, we had to take a left into a subdivision and did a ~0.5 mile keyhole loop which annoys me those rare time I have to do it. It just feels silly running into a circle in a road race. No hills per se, just a few gentle ‘rises’ every once in a while to keep you honest. At about mile 4, I got behind a guy who was keeping a nice steady pace. I didn’t feel like busting my butt this day, so I stayed behind him, vowing not to pass him until mile 10. At that point, I dropped the hammer and took off.

Having done over 25 marathons and only 2 half marathons before today, I knew I could keep a good 6:30ish pace for the duration. When I hit mile 6.5 and a I realized that I was already halfway done, I got really excited. This 13.1 mile thing is pretty cool. Once you get into your rhythm, it is almost time to finish up. The last mile I had so much left over energy that I flew it in a 6:15 pace.

Another race I will not forget, but this time not so much for the race.

Ruston, LA
3:47:30
1st place overall (out of ~30)
             Yikes, a 3:47 and yet you still get a top honors? What the heck?
Well, let me tell ya… The race was held in Ruston, LA, a small town on the I-20 corridor that time of year  gets a lot of rain. I mean a lot. It had been raining there for 4 straight days before I showed up. Blessedly, the rain turned to sort of a constant state of really fine drizzle by race morning, so it was just cold, not cold and rainy.
             The course was 2.62 times around a 10 mile mountain bike trail in Lincoln Parish Park (http://park.lincolnparish.org/) which is very beautiful, actually. Warm and dry it would have been better, but so it goes. Something about mountain bikers, I dunno, they just abhor straight lines.  Probably 80% of the race you did not take more than 5 strides without making a turn and/or jumping over a little bump. The hills were small, but there 3123267 of them.  (see pic below) Honestly, the course was great, just brutal. This whole race was just one guy’s ‘thank you’ to his old Cross country coach (Larry Yeagle, of course) Small town race feel, for sure.
              There was a 10 mile race (once around the horn) going on as well. At the start, I took off, in the lead after 2 steps, and never lost it, not even to the 10 miler winner. Yes, I could have won that race too if I decided to bail on the marathon.  During that first time around, I kept trying to look back and gauge how much of a lead I had on the 2nd place guy, but with some many turns in the woods and few straight aways, it was pretty much impossible. I tried really hard all day though, especially when I started to really slow at about mile 20. I just kept moving, telling myself “You’ll win if you don’t completely blow up”.  
              This being the end weekend of my spring break, I was planning on driving the 15 hours here, but again, 2 weeks out, I landed a cheap (relative to the drive travel costs) airline ticket, flying into Dallas-Ft Worth airport. However, I still had a 4 hour drive (one way) to Ruston. The ‘what did I learn this marathon’ take home message for THIS trip is if you are driving more than 2 hours, bring something to listen too. Podcasts, book on CD, something. I got lucky this time because there were a handful of good classic rock stations, but it was still frustrating.
              My hotel room was actually really nice and comfortable. And thank goodness, there was an Applebee’s less than a mile away. I did not get into town until 7 pm, 11 hours before race start, so everything being close by helps a lot.
              My flight was leaving DTW at 6:30 pm of Saturday. The race started at 8 am. The drive was just over 4 hours from Ruston to DFW. Yes, I was cutting it that close. I stayed at the race for about 15 min (eating some nice beans and rice moosh) before I took off and managed a quick shower at my hotel room before I started the long drive to the airport. I called lots of people just to chat to make the time go by faster and keep me awake. I broke up with my girlfriend earlier this week, so I have been low on sleep and spirits, which is never good the week before a marathon. 
             The knees today are not happy. I have been icing them 1-2 times a day for months now, and they feel fine for the first few miles of a race, but then a dull soreness overcomes them. I found some exercises to strengthen those muscles, so hopefully that will help. I will never break my 2:49 PR if I don’t solve this problem. Blah.
    A fun smash and grab trip.