Stratton-Faxon Fairfield Half Marathon

I sadly did not PR in this race.  I was hoping the fast & flat course combined with the huge crowd of runners would carry me to a spectacular time above 1:28, but it was not meant to be. It ended up being my worst half since August 2011 when I ran a 1:41, which at the time was an huge PR for me.  Weeks of exhaustion combined with the hot sunny weather on race day did me in.  So...I'm calling it a very expensive training run.

It didn't help that there were time clocks at every mile marker during the race.  I no longer race with a watch, because I run better when I'm not obsessing about my splits being too fast or too slow.  Without a watch, I can run purely by feel, and I often do remarkably better that way.  However, when there are clocks at every mile marker, it is nearly impossible not to look at them, and I spent the race stressing about the splits.  And they were mostly discouraging, and although I never completely gave up on the race, the splits told me I was not going to get a PR, and it was demoralizing.  I may have been able to do slightly better without the clocks, although I know I still wouldn't have done great.

My personal disappointments aside, it was a great race.  The course had some nice views, the spectators were awesome, and there were lots of bands along the way to provide a soundtrack for the run.  There was even a group of bagpipers! (I love bagpipes...)  I may come do the race again sometime if my schedule permits.  Just because I had a bad race this year doesn't mean I can't come back and dominate some day in the future...

This Week:

M: 2.76 / 21:05 / 7:38

T: 5.56 / 41:42 / 7:30

W: 7.17 / 56:17 / 7:50

R: off

F: 4.93 / 38:15 / 7:45

Sa: off

Su: 13.1 / 1:37:29 / 7:26

total : 33.52

Side note : Friday's run was after a 48 hour period that involved 15 hours of driving and less than 8 hours of sleep. On Thursday I started sipping coffee around 4, I had a concert to go to from 6-8, I hit the road at 8:45, got to Annapolis at 1:45 AM, left Annapolis around 8:30 the next morning, and arrived in RI about 10 hours later, at which point I'd been sipping coffee for over 24 hours.  I was so jittery I desperately needed to run it off.  The caffeine caused stomach cramps at first, but once they wore off, the run felt great after all that time spent in the car.  

I went to Boston yesterday and got a super-snazzy pair of Mizunos for the next couple months of training.  I got fitted for them at Marathon Sports so I am confident that they will be perfect.  Plus, I love the colors : bright blue and green!  I will win my next race because the competition will be blinded by my shoes...