Season's End

So I ran the Allerton Trail run yesterday. It was very, very hard but very fun. The weather was absolutely perfect -- a crisp, fall day (35 degrees), zero wind and buckets of sunshine. I couldn't have asked for weather any better. I got Carter to roll out of bed around 7:20 and we left shortly after that. There were tons of people and the race itself was very well organized. Carter was only able to run this with me because Uni wasn't at the State play-offs....a bittersweet thing, needless to say.

We ran together almost the entire way, which I really enjoyed. We got stuck in the back of the pack at the beginning and were actually walking for a while, but I didn't mind because I got to enjoy the Fu Dogs. It also meant that once things got going, we could have fun moving up, slipping around people when the trail allowed us to. I don't know about Carter but that gave me a sense of strength and momentum. And it was very easy to get distracted by the natural beauty all around.

We trucked along pretty well for the first 3 miles or so, and then my calf started to really hurt and Carter complained about his feet. We started talking brief walking breaks, which helped, but then we had to climb a L O N G steep hill to get to the SunSinger. That really hurt and was discouraging because that part of the trail was divided in half and the runners ahead of us were coming down the trail as we were going up. There were a LOT of them. Of course, there were people coming up the trail as we were going down, but not too many. There was a guy in a jog suit that was designed to look like an American flag -- no kidding!! He was the Stars and Stripes all over and that made me smile.

We continued moving along until about mile 4.5 -- I was feeling pretty low on energy. I should have eaten more. It's always a tricky proposition -- to know how much to eat ahead of time. You need enough to finish strong, but not too much that you end up running for secluded bushes. I erred on the side of not enough. At this point, Carter gave up on me and went ahead. I continued plodding along, got to the Stadium where I did a Rocky-esque stair run and then did the last 1/2 mile. It took me a lot longer than I had hoped but I did finish and I enjoyed myself. That was my goal.

I'm thinking that a mere 6 1/2 months ago I ran my first race ever! the Parkland 5K. The weather that day was 26 degrees and the wind was 15-20 mph -- miserable! My goal for that race was to finish and I did, with an ok time.

I'm proud of myself and happy with my season. I have run nearly 300 miles, 6 races and improved my time consistently. I have better form and while I break a healthy sweat, I hardly ever get winded (I should run harder!) I'm not where I'd like to be but that's ok. And I am paying for the trail run and not resting as much as I should have to manage the calf injury, so I'm moving my workouts to the eliptical and pilates. I don't enjoy either of them as much as running outside, but they'll do. Looking forward to next spring!