Tuesday, October 6, 2009

4 days till Hartford, 26 days till NYC

So, I've been off the bike for a bit, in true noncyclist style. If I'm honest, which I'm told is the best policy, I haven't been on the bike since Philly.

I know, I'm kinda embarrassed, but it's the truth. The last time I was riding was the finish line of the century. I can't believe it and now you know the reason behind the lack of posts.

Now, to be fair, I feel like I have a somewhat legitimate excuse. Every time that I have an extra minute to exercise, I've been running. With the Hartford Half Marathon coming up on the 10th and the full New York City Marathon looming on Nov. 1st, I think that while cycling may be more fun, if I hope to survive these events, I've got to keep running.

I did a nice 15 mile run on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and a great day for a run. Becky and I set out together and the plan was to run the 7.5 mile loop by our house. She was going to accompany me for the first loop and then I would do a second loop. Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling well that morning and had to bail, deciding to turn around and do the 3 mile loop.

That meant that I was on my own for the lion's share of the run. The good news is that my legs and lungs were feeling great. The major challenge then became staying focused mentally for the whole 15 miles and making sure that my joints didn't take too much of a pounding. I finished feeling great, but it's still a little daunting when I think about having to do 11 more miles after a run like that. NYC should be interesting.

Hartford on the other hand, I'm feeling really good about. I think I should be able to go for a personal best time of under 1:45 and I'm feeling more confident in my body's ability to push it at this distance. The half marathon, for me, really is a nice distance. It's long enough to make it a challenge and to be taxing both physically and mentally, but now, having done a few, I feel like I know what to expect and can run my race.

My friend Casey is coming in to run Hartford and Becky is running the half as well, it should be a great weekend. The only downer is that Becky's dad Larry, (the proud owner of the Lotus) will not be able to run with us. He registered and was looking forward to running Hartford, but a cliff diving mishap in Hawaii has left his back a bit of a twisted painful mess, and running is out of the question right now. Total bummer, but we just wish and pray that his back will heal up and that maybe he'll want to give it another shot next year.

As always, look for post event pics and wrap up here after the runs.

2 comments:

  1. You really did riding for the last time near the finish line of the century! That's incredible.

    ReplyDelete

 
Custom Search
Nitro-Pak Preparedness Center