Mostly Boring, But One Cool Thing...

There are a couple of things I've rarely enjoyed: Uphill and into the wind. Today there was too much of both. My 16 mile run was on the usual rolling terrain but had the added attraction of wind. Not just a little wind. 20-25 MPH of headwind for the first 9 miles. By the time I had the tailwind, I felt as though I had been beaten into submission. BUT, it's over and for the most part, I'm over IT!

So with three weeks until the Eugene HALF Marathon, yep committed to the half, I've logged 61 and 63 miles the last two weeks. I'm planning on bumping that a bit (or keeping it right there) this coming week before backing off in the two weeks prior. Am I peaking? Hell, no. I'm not even in shape, what would I peak? The two weeks prior to Eugene, I am on a whirlwind (there's that word WIND again) teaching tour of Idaho. Those kind of trips  automatically reduce my mileage anyway, so it comes at a good time.

That brings us to the cool thing.

I have a nine day teaching trip in Michigan in June. I decided to see if there were any races while I was in town. It turns out that June 3, 2018, is the 45th running of the Dexter to Ann Arbor race. Originally a fifteen mile race, it is now a Half-Marathon. I ran the half in 2000. Interestingly, I ran the fifteen miler on year 1...... 1974!

Yep, that picture at the top is me (#125) standing at the starting line ready to blast it out in

beautiful downtown Dexter. Ended up 14th, running the 15 miles in 1:25:58. Also, interestingly. I ran almost the exact same time for the Half in 2000 at the ripe old age of 48.

I received some type of award (that's the second picture - nice hairband). They must have given medals to the top fifteen or twenty in the race. Who knows? I do however, still have that medal.

So, I'm pretty excited to add the Dex-AA Half to my modest racing schedule, which so far, looks like this:

April 29              Eugene Half Marathon

May 28              Bolder Boulder 10K

June 3               Dexter to Ann Arbor Half Marathon

July 29              San Francisco Marathon (a BIG maybe at this point)

August 11         Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon

September 3     Fortitude 10K

October 7         Chicago Marathon

December 2     Cal International Marathon

Everything seems to be holding up so far. The knee is pretty okay most days and as long as that remains the trend, I'm good with that.

Hopefully all is well in your world. As Eliud would say, "run with the run."