Frederick Half Marathon + 5K's

Enter week 2 of me just running for "fun."  The mental break has been helpful, but already my thoughts are filled with possible answers to the question of "what's next."

Mileage was a bit higher this week, but I felt pretty good overall.

Monday: 7 miles, easy/moderate
Tuesday:~8 miles, easy
Wednesday: 21 miles on the bike, good amount of uphill
Thursday: 7 miles, moderate with a fast finish
Friday: 40 miles on the bike, steady, flatter

Saturday...  I came up with this wonderfully great (or stupid) idea to run two 5Ks in one day.  I had already signed up for the Fiesta 5K, a local 5K in downtown Baltimore that raises money for ALS research.  I've got a friend whose Dad has ALS and was a sub-2:40 marathoner in his heyday.  Being that 2:40 is my (now) elusive goal, I feel a connection.  But anyway...

By the 8AM start it was hot and humid as crap.  Since it's now May, it's time to get my ass in gear for hot running anyway, so it was time for a trial by fire.  All the mile markers on the course were off, so I don't know what my splits were.  But, when it was all said and done, I ran a 16:54 and puked after crossing the line (I came close in the race too).  I had the lead for about 1.25 miles, but had no answer when I got passed by the eventual winner (16:35).  Not an unexpected result, given my complete lack of workouts in the last month or so.  The group I ran for also got a huge shout out at the awards ceremony since I managed to place, which was really cool.

Fast forward to the afternoon.  I had to drive out to Frederick for a pre-pacer meeting for the half I was doing the next day and figured I might as well do the twilight 5K since I was out there anyway.  Last minute entry and a few hours later, I was standing on the horse track at the Frederick Fairgrounds.  A whole bunch of kids approximately 11 years of age were also on the start line wearing matching singlets.  Being on the far outside and wanting to take the rail for the 3/4 loop on the track before hitting the roads, I could only hope I wouldn't knock anyone down.  To make a long story short, after all the rif-raff faded, there were four of us left who took out the first mile in a rather slow 5:30.  That track did not help one bit.

The pack broke up after that, and when the dust settled, I ended up second in 17:20.  Clearly not a very good time, but I think I was still dehydrated from the first race and although it was a little cooler for this one, it was still a bit humid.  I stayed relatively consistent at least, and got what I considered a decent workout in.

Total Saturday Miles: 11 (with warm up, and thanks to Sara B, a fellow Falls Road runner and 2nd place female a cool down after the second race).


After a drive back to Baltimore and another out to Frederick (it's a good thing I enjoy driving, especially on roads like I-70 when there is no traffic), I lined up at the start of the Frederick half to serve as a pacer for the 1:40 group (7:38/mile).  I woke up dehydrated, shockingly and it definitely took 4 miles to work out some nasty cramping I had.  But, the pace was chill and I was good at hiding it, so I did my job of being calm.  We took the first mile out way too fast (7:09) but dialed it back after that and ended up getting a good eight or so people under 1:40 and a few more right at 1:40.  The last 0.1 threw us off as we had 10 seconds in the bank and jogged it in, only to end up 24 seconds over thanks to the longest 0.1 miles in recorded history.  1:40:24, still within our 59 second window.

The guy I paced with was planning on riding his bike back from Frederick to the Baltimore area (50ish miles) and said he thought about convincing me to do it.  It's a good thing he didn't ask, because it sounded like an awesome idea..  Maybe next year, if I don't run two 5Ks and bike 40 miles in the two days before the half!

Weekly Miles:
Running: 46
Cycling: 61

It's almost time to decide exactly what the heck I'm going to do with the summer and fall.  Maybe by my next weekly post I'll have something together.  For now, it's just a duathlon this coming weekend, 1.5 mile run, 15 bike, 3.1 mile run.