Greetings From Ohio

So here I am in Ohio, done with class for the day so that gives me plenty of time to update you all on last weekend. Friday night my friends and I headed up north to a friends cabin for the weekend. I found a half marathon in the area so I could get somewhat of a longer run in Saturday morning. This meant I had to be good Friday night and not partake in the typical shenanigans and drinking games. That would have to wait until Saturday night. It's not a big cabin so I chose to sleep on the couch in the sun room of the cabin since it would be the quietest to spot for me to try and get rest. The guys knew I wouldn't be a happy camper if they screwed with me Friday night so we made a deal that if they let me sleep Friday night then I couldn't wuss out and go to bed early Saturday if I was tired from the race. Not a problem.

Saturday morning the alarm went off at 6:30 because I wanted to leave by 7 since the race was at 9 and it was supposed to take between 30 and 45 minutes to get there. Seven o'clock came and I was in the car and backing out of the driveway. I still don't know why but I decided not to clean the fresh snow off all the windows of the car (not mine either, I rode with a friend and borrowed his) just the windshield. Whoops....I managed to miss the end of the driveway and totally got stuck. ef me. I woke Ben up to help me get the car out of the yard...that's right I drove into the yard.... We ended up having to pull it out with his truck and I was now set back fifteen minutes. Damn. Next time I'm cleaning the windows off.

I got to Mt. Pleasant at eight even with the delay, got my bib and realized I had to use the restroom. The race started at a running store and they had one bathroom so as you can imagine there was a line. Luckily I got in line right away because I was in that line until 8:45. This only left 15 minutes to warm up before the start. I had wanted to get 2-3 easy miles in for a warm up and after all was said and done I got maybe a mile and half.

The race took place mostly on dirt roads that were frozen over with ice that had a fresh dusting of snow from the night before on top. Thank Jeebus for this dusting of snow too because it helped provide the little traction I got. That morning I decided to wear my cascadia's instead of my Kinvara's that I would normally race in since I wasn't sure what the terrain and snow would be like on the course. Good thing too because I'm sure the kinvara's wouldn't have provided nearly enough grip.


I believe these two pictures are in the first mile.



I'm in the green dead center

There were a lot more people in the half than I expected which made it fun. I half figured I'd be out there by myself for the most of the race but there was always someone right in front and right behind me. I took a honey stinger packet around mile seven and I have decided it was a mistake. It had begun to crystallize inside the packet probably mostly because I've had it since last spring and partly due to the cold. This meant I was having to chew it, then about half a mile later my stomach started to cramp up. I don't remember the last time I've had a stomach cramp while running. It lasted almost two miles and though my pace didn't drop too much I definitely couldn't start to pick up the pace like I had planned. Finally it went away just before the end of mile ten and I was able to push my pace a little. It had been pretty windy most of the race and the snow kicked up a little here and there at times making it difficult to see without squinting.

I Think this was in the middle of the race....brrr

I averaged a 6:45 pace for the last two miles and I really wanted to go faster but just couldn't seem to find another gear. My hip was a little sore but I think the big problem is I'm going to have to start incorporating speed work soon if I want to hit my goal time for Borgess in May.

I ended up setting a new PR by 6 seconds and I'll take it considering the lack of traction, wind and cramps. I finished 16th overall and second in the female 22-29 age group.....wait a minute.... that's right the results have myself and another guy (the overall winner) in the female AG instead of the male. I emailed the race director and he said he noticed the error and they'd get it straightened out. So maybe I'm wrong but it seems like usually they take the overall winner out of the AG categories so maybe just maybe I won my age group? If the rest of my actual AG is correct than I'd be second only to the overall winner so who knows. I'm not too concerned just thought it was funny when they called my name for the female AG win haha.

I got back to the cabin around 2 and we spent the day trying to play cornhole on the lake while ice fishing. Remember that wind I mentioned during the race? Well it was even worse on the lake, thus adding a new level of difficulty to cornhole. You literally had to aim the bags five feet to the left of the hole and let the wind carry it back. This actually made it more fun I think. As for ice fishing we came up with nothing like usual. It's a good thing we really don't care....or at least I don't care about it. We ate copious amounts of homemade chili and three of us polished off an entire package of Oreos in a matter of moments. We played Euchre for a bit which is always a good time even if we did lose our last game by one point.

In other news I heard from Cleveland and you are looking at one of the Official Pacers for the 2012 Cleveland Marathon! SCORE!!! I'll be pacing the 3:40 group so if you're going to be running Cleveland in May keep an eye out for me!

Did you notice the weather today!!! It's like 60 degrees here in Ohio and I saw it's 53 back home! This calls for a shorts run! In January! Double score!!

Hope you all had great weekends too!