Urban Wildland!

You know what's tough about a report like this? How do you show an appreciation for what you accomplish but at the same time state the facts on why I could have done better?



One of my favorite peeps that I don't know is rural girl. I love her attitude, I love her commitment and hardness in training and racing and I love the fact that she's a nurse (well, nurse practitioner)! This all totally makes her HOT!



Recently, (I forget what post) she commented about all the whining that her sister observed before a triathlon. "I didn't practice my swimming", etc. You know, excuses for why you aren't going to perform a certain standard.



Being that I respect her so much, I am reluctant to talk about it. The thing is, I don't think I'm a whiner so please don't take it that way. It's just facts. (Doesn't matter anyway, she hasn't had reason to visit my blog lately).



Plus, I am happy with my results. And I think when it's put it into perspective, I'm really happy with my results. But the truth is, I should be faster at the 1/2 mary distance.



Anybody that visits me here (all 5 of you ;-), knows about my broken clavicle and scapula on June 13th from a bicycling accident. That shoulder is FINE! I am not allowed to lift anything at the shoulder but I can run and I'm so happy to be doing something after 5 weeks off of training.



But what you don't know is that I have a pinched nerve, with a decent amount of pain on my right shoulder, travelling down that funny bone nerve (i know, not very technical for a nurse) and into my hand. It's from all the lifting and compensating of not being able to use my left arm and it also limits my neck range of motion.



Well, that was pleasant for running 13.1 miles. The truth is, I almost quit the first 1/2 mile, it hurt so much. Amazingly I was able to have my arm in a firm position with some swing to it and put the pain on the back burner. It was always there, but with much less affect on my race than it could have.



I like this race. It alternates between parks, lakes, neighborhoods and grasslands. It even had a decent amount of spectators for about 1100 people racing. I hope to do it next year and I hope some of you join me.



Ok, so to keep my whine list updated. ;-)

1) No training 5 weeks!

2) Only started running again less than 2 weeks ago.

3) No speed work because of #2, concentrated on getting my miles back up.



Now, I remember. There's this little thing about leaving my shotblocks and gel packs on the ottoman at home. Not much good for racing if I can't use it, now is it?



So I ran the whole 1/2 on water and a little powerade. Not adequate for this fellow. And I really felt that the last 2 miles. Mile 8 was a 9:17 pace, then 9:21, 9:05, 9:04, then 12 and 13 were 9:35 and 9:27. You see, I normally speed up the last couple of miles but was just not able too. One gel pack and maybe I could have beat 2 hours. I should have had the balls to ask somebody for one, maybe!



Nevertheless, I ran the 1/2 in 2:01:21, a freaking 7-1/2 minute pr from my only other half mary in January.



I am very pleased with this result. But not pleased enough to be satisfied for the next 1/2 (halloween dash?). I feel that if I didn't have my injury and had my gel packs, I would have had the ability to run 8:30 for 13.1 miles by now.



Last, but certainly not least, my son ran the 5K in 33:30. A PR for him. I am proud of him, I just wish he'd train a little;-) He'll be 13 later this month.