Training for Chicago

So, I've been a bit lax in posting. Things outside of my training have been a bit busy. I'm actually inside of Week 2 of training for Chicago. The big days with Week 1? 10k time trial (Day 1) and 5k time trial (Day 2), so that my coach could see what sort of shape I'm in.

As he put it, age has not been a detriment to me. His goal for my 10k was 40 minutes, and I finished in 39:45. His goal for my 5k was 20 minutes, and I nailed it in 19:20. (!) 

Today's speed work had intervals ranging from ¼ mile (at 10mph) to 1 mile (at 8.9mph). Really nice to get the praise of "Just a superior effort. Executed perfectly. HR data is a thing of beauty for a coach." The sharp, fast drop-off/recovery with each walk break is what this was about. Now to keep that up for, oh, 15 more weeks. :-)

Mercifully, SOS (something of substance) runs are alternating days, so tomorrow's 6 miles should be a pretty easy effort.

Delaware HALF Marathon

Despite having been pissed about the marathon cancellation, I ran the half marathon today. Very quickly I understood why they couldn't have merely had the marathoners do the course twice. Far too many points along the course were too narrow to accommodate the extra traffic, especially with marathoners who would want/need to pass the half-marathoners who were taking up the rear of the half while the mid-pack was on the return already. And there was no viable turnaround point at the half-way mark.

Did pretty well -- 1:31:28. 25th overall, 3rd for age group. Early on, I managed (briefly) to get out in front of one lady whose running gait was rather distracting (her feet were splayed to the outside, though her stride itself was fine), but couldn't manage to stay in front of her. Instead, she wound up being about 50-100 feet in front of me for the vast majority of the race. While there were no pacers on the course, her pace was so consistent (and what I was looking to run), I basically used her as the rabbit to chase. Worked quite well; I thanked her after we crossed the finish line and complimented her on her consistent pace getting me through.

So, the decision I need to make now is where to donate the medal for the full marathon. I was handed it when picking up my bib. And it's just not right to keep it, IMO. At first, I had declined the half marathon medal given I had been handed the medal for the full at registration, but then rethought that decision. Take the medal for the race I completed, and donate the one for the race that never happened. After all, they can't exactly re-use them.

So, where would you donate the extra medal? (Even more helpful if it is a Northern Virginia organization.)

(So far, I've found Medals4Mettle.org and WeFinishTogether.org)

Always get refundable hotel rooms

I should know better. While it's fine to pre-pay for a hotel room, make sure that it is fully refundable. If the race cancels mere days ahead of time, you shouldn't be out that cost.

I was all ready to run the full marathon in Wilmington Delaware on Sunday (postponed from March), but in the last day, they canceled the full (while keeping all the other events). My options: get a refund for the race (great, but I'd still be out the cost of the hotel room) or bump down to the half (while not getting the *difference* in the registration rates refunded to me).

I've done all the training, and thankfully have only a relatively short drive to Wilmington, so I'll suck it up and go out as fast as I can for the half -- see what my PR can really be, knowing that I don't need another 13.1 miles in the tank. The only half marathons I've run (since moving out of NYC, when it would have been only as part of training and to qualify for NYC Marathon in th 9+1 program (before the +1)) have been at Disney, and none of them "for time."

Silver lining: Assuming that the Marathon Maniacs are the pace team for the Marine Corps Marathon again this year (now that they are holding a live event) and I can get onto the team again (like I did for the 50k in 2019), that will enable me to have the 50th running of the NYC Marathon be my 50th marathon. With all the cancellations in the past year and some of the random other races I wound up doing along the way, it's amazing to think that that synchronicity that was supposed to happen last year is set to happen this year - possibly.