AM: 2 warmup, 13.1 in 1:20:45, 1 cooldown. Halloween Halfathon, first in a series of half marathons that brings out good local runners. In the days leading up to the race, I was uncertain if I'd even run. At one point though, I realized I'd regret it if I didn't. Usually going into a race, I'll have done a bunch of work at race pace and have a definite pacing plan. Today I just wanted to hang onto my local competitors as long as I could.
That turned out to be 4 miles. There was humidity and wind to contend with today - neither terrible, but times were supressed. Which kind of worked in my favor, since our lead pack went out a bit more slowly than it would have otherwise. It was awesome running the first 1/3 or the race with Mike, Sean and Chris/Chris. I regret not being able to hang.
Similar to TCM, my legs became an issue into mile 4. It feels like a numbness in my left hip with decreased mobility, while an ache grows in my left hamstring. Unfortunately, the problem has not improved in the last month - it's actually gotten worse. This is discouraging since I haven't been doing workouts, or mileage - I've been taking it easy and just getting less fit and more injured.
I thought pretty seriously about dropping out when I lost contact with the pack at the end of mile 4, but I haven't DNF'd yet, so I figured why start that precedent now. I ran a lot of miles after that in the 6:30 range, which at least felt comfortable. I figured people would be coming for me sooner or later, but I ran the rest of the race alone. It was a bummer, but not a surprise. I knew there was a pretty good chance I could be in for a day like this. Mike ran great, Sean is on his way back.
As lousy as my time was today, it is the best I've run in a month. I'm going to look at it like that, at least for now. If I still can't run in a month, then I'll be ready to panic.
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