Ethan Cannon

Well, that was a day. It was my first race of 2026. 

The good: We were under a heat warning. It felt damp outside but thankfully it was overcast for the entire race. Honestly it could have been a lot worse. However, I talked to some of the top guys afterwards who felt it affected their race as none of us ran as well as we expected. I did look up the weather from my last time at this race, and although it was sunny, it was about 10 degrees cooler, which would have made a big difference. 1.5 minutes difference? Doubt it. But still. Also, it made for an absolutely gorgeous run through the Hudson area. I really love running out there. 

The bad: I have run 4 half-marathons prior to today, each one was a PR and more importantly, each one was a 1:06. Today I couldn't even manage 1:07. I was really hoping to get 1:06:59 at least for the Bjorklund's sake. 

The ugly: Those mile markers were truly horrific. I will write my "splits" here for the purposes of entertainment. At some point I realized they were truly completely unreliable. 5:02, 5:36, 4:49, 5:15, 5:47, 5:40, 4:12, 5:15, 6:18, 3:52, 5:28, 5:02, 6:00 (final 1.1). 3:52 are you kidding me???

Pre-race easy run and strides.

7:02 pace, west river road on day 4 of the new place. 

6:50 pace, Como lake loop. On Day 3 of running from my new place, I got to run in real live sub-60 degree temps. Unfortunately, I woke up absolutely roasted after a long day yesterday, and the fatigue carried over onto my run. Hopefully I can get things under control by race day. The route itself could use a modificaiton here or there, but if it works out, it'll be the first commonly used loop run I've had since moving to MN. 

Second day at our new place. Finally we are getting a reprieve from the heat so getting started at 9:45 or so wasn't too much of an issue. I did the Reservoir woods run that I had planned. I'm not sure how often I will do this. It is definitely very fun to explore the Res woods area; today I ran through some small trails I hadn't been on much before. It is a really beautiful place. On the other hand, it feels like a bit of a drag to run so far along Roselawn and not get there until 4 miles in. Averaged 6:46 pace, including 6:30 pace coming back due to a 8,8,4 workout I did that ended up being more like 8,4,4,4 due to a stop light. 

6:57 pace on my first run in my new place! I haven't done much running in the Prospect Park area, but it is kind of nice in the summer. One thing I didn't anticipate was how much hillier my runs will be. Obviously you have to get back up the final hill but the Prospect Park area is also pretty hilly, and the new route puts it so you run on the hilliest portion of east river road.