Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

35F.  My favorite running temperature.

As I said yesterday, they cancelled my 50k and the marathon due to icy conditions, but were confident enough in the HM course to let us all have a go on it.  I was actually kind of impressed they didn't cancel everything, but I would much rather have stayed home than raced a HM when I'm not in that kind of shape.

Mile 10 has a long uphill bridge everyone there talks about, so I decided to run the first 10 miles at Lazy HM Pace (LHMP) and kick it in the last 5k to get a progressive-type workout that wouldn't require a long recovery.

First 10 @ LHMP: 6:23, 6:37, 6:27, 6:24, 6:33, 6:25, 6:17, 6:22, 6:21, 6:27.  Mile 2 was really the only mile you definitely needed to slow down due to ice.  The majority of the second half of the marathon was on those same trails so it was probably good they cancelled it; that wouldn't have been fun.  Anyway, I enjoyed running the race with no expectations...basically not caring what happened.  I made my way up the bridge from 9.0-9.5 at around a 6:40 pace, passing lots of people, then collected myself for a minute and started picking it up.

Last 5k(ish): 6:10, 6:09, 6:12, 1:10 for 0.2 (5:50).  I think I only made 3 or 4 passes in this section as the field was already pretty stretched out, but it was nice to have so much in the tank at the end of a race - a completely foreign concept for me.  The last mile was mostly uphill so I'm calling it a sub-6 in my head.

Skipped the medal, never saw the finisher shirts, chugged some free protein shakes and made it to my car in about 12 minutes.  I'm still really disappointed about missing that 50k - I've wanted to do it for years but Boston has always been in the way.  I'm going to try and find another one in the next few weeks, though it'll be on trails.  The best thing that came out of this debacle was that I don't need 2 weeks to recover and my training won't take a big hit.

Official chip splits are below, the ones above are from Garmin.  Not sure how I lost a place at the end, must have been someone behind me with a late start/chip.  I was electronically passed!

41F.  5 @ 8:58 AP.

AM:  46F, drizzly.  6 @ 8:24 AP.  Legs are kinda sore.  13 @ 6:22 is definitely more than an average workout for me so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  The thing that's most sore is my left groin.  WTH was I doing out there?

PM:  58F.  4 @ 8:16 AP.

AM:  63F, 93%.  6 @ 8:44 AP.  Legs are not recovering.  Probably because I'm actually a 90-year-old lady.

PM:  skipping it today, hoping to get my legs back

Great news though - Cowtown sent me an email saying if I send them a form stating I ran a "virtual" 50k on my own, they'll send me my finishers medal!  Wow.  You can't make this stuff up...  Good on them for trying though - fact is, it probably made a lot of people happy.

AM:  32F, N wind, 20+ mph.  6 @ 8:01 AP.  I felt a little better today, though my right leg is still kind of dead.  The imbalanced feeling is a little disturbing but it's the kind of thing that will probably work itself out after a few more recovery runs.

PM:  45F.  4 @ 7:49 AP.

There is a local trail 50k called the Prickly Pear on the 14th (in 9 days, yikes) but I dunno...if it takes all this week to get well after the HM, what am I going to do next week, taper again?  I've spent the whole winter tapering and recovering, and any semblance of legitimate training is pretty far in my rear view mirror at this point.  If I had a brain, I'd ditch any race plans and spend the last month or two of decent temperatures getting in some solid miles and training.  But then I'd have to admit I accomplished nothing in races all season.  I think if I fall in love with the either of the weather forecasts for Prickly Pear or Hells Hills, then I'll sign up and give it a shot.  If I don't then I can enjoy some nice long runs on my own before summer slogging season starts.  

AM:  29F.  8 @ 7:42 AP.  Flat, flat, flat.  Who knew this would be the toughest HM recovery in recent memory?  Not signing up for anything unless I can get a little bounce in my step again.

PM: Golf.  Bowling later tonight.  Things white people love.