Rhett

30 minutes on stationary bike and 20 minute on elliptical to work out some soreness from the 50 mile race on Saturday.

My legs were a bit sore, but less so than after a hard marathon.  I thought they would be a lot worse.

7 very slow miles that felt more like a shuffle than a run.  Soreness was almost completely gone, but legs were very tired.

7 easy miles that felt like actual running again.  Not fast but running.  No soreness except a small tightening in my right IT band near the end of the run.

7 easy miles a bit faster than yesterday. Legs feel like they are back and ready to get started on perparing for the Phoenix Marathon on Feb 27.

On a side note, tomorrow is the second annual Hot Air Balloon Half which I am the defending champion (see race report under Rhett's Races).  It starts at 7:30 sharp on the island.  Registration is up 100% from last year as Blake has confirmed that he will be racing with me.  If anyone else wants to join us, you can sign up on race morning.  The cost is $00.00 and all proceeds go to me the race director.  There are no aid stations, no street closings, and you must wear a GPS watch as the turn around is when your watch says 6.55.  Everyone is welcome.  There will be approximately 50 hot air baloons flying around us in honor of our great race.  It is a beautiful sight to see.  Weather is expected to be in the upper 40s with almost no wind.  See you tomorrow.

Today was the second annual Hot Air Balloon Half in conjunction with the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival here in Lake Havasu City.  We doubled the number of racers this year!  That means 2. It was 50 degrees and mildly windy this morning.  Unfortunately it was too windy for the Hot Air Balloons to go up like planned.

We started the race a little after 7:30.  My goal was to run 6:52 miles for as long as I could.  Having run the 50 mile race just 6 days ago, I wasn't sure how long I could keep up that pace.  I hit the halfway at 44:59, one second ahead of pace, and as I turned around I was pleasantly surprised to see Blake only about 50 meters behind me. 

I was starting to tire soon after the turn around but kept pushing.  Miles 9, 10, and 11 my pace started dropping though and about a quarter mile before hitting mile 11 Blake caught me. I slipped in behind him and ran for a bit.  It was nice to have someone there with me and my body soon relaxed and I was able to pick it back up again.  We ran side by side for the last 2.1 miles averaging 6:45.  I thought Blake was going to drop back, but I told him he had to stay with me and he dug deep and did it.  We crossed the finish line, 13.1 on our watches, at 1:31:25 in a dead tie for first place and since we are in differnet age groups we each won our age group. :)

A few things I learned about running a half marathon 6 days after a 50 miler:  1)  It takes more than six days to get your legs at 100% after a 50 miler,  2)  13.1 miles seems really short after running 50 miles,  and 3)  13.1 hurts as bad as a 50 miler, just in a different way. 

Congratulations to Blake who set a huge half marathon PR today, and he ran 40 miles of the 50 last Saturday with me.  He is looking good for his first BQ next month in Phoenix!

10 really easy with Blake while we watched all the hot air balloons flying.  It was a beautiful morning. 

Avg HR 128