Horsetooth Half through Friday, May 7th

So I am finally done with the semester and school for the time being. I just finished an Associates in Computer Science. I was really looking for the Bachelors, but quite frankly, just wanted to get done and on with my life. I now have a job I like doing what I want to do. I am not going to do any more schooling for at least the rest of 2010. It will be nice to focus just on work and running....

So I ran the Horsetooth Half Marathon a few weeks ago. It was a really neat experience. The race happen in Fort Collins, and as you might have gathered from the name, goes a long the Horsetooth Reservoir for a stretch. It is a challenging due to the substantial uphills at the start through the first few miles. The view though is really out of this world. I have never run a half before and really was sad that I missed this one last year due to having the flu.  I was really glad I decided to do it...

The start was a little befuddled. I could not really tell where the starting line was and in hindsight, should have started a little closer to the front. I ended up getting stuck behind a ton of people that started the half walking. I know it is unavoidable, because so many people are new and just don't understand where they should be lining up, but it is very hard to weave around people on such a steep incline to start a race. I was pretty flustered the first mile to be honest. That opening hill was even steeper than I would have thought.

After I started to get some room, the only real challenge was the steep grade ahead. I kept telling myself to stay slow and not to push. It was like I could hear my running guru Jon and my NYC Marathon buddy Ria telling me that this was not the end goal and getting injured worse in my legs was not worth it. So I really pulled back at times.

Once the road leveled out and you could look to the right and see Ft. Collins it was quite the view. It reminded me a bit of the movie Cars when Lightening McQueen and Sally are looking down at Radiator Springs, it brought a smile to my face.

The downhills were pretty funny. Lots of people would just go blowing by me...then when we would start the trek back up....my steady pace would take me ahead. It was a very satisfying feeling. To know that you are keeping your pace and that if necessary, you could output a bunch more is really good for the confidence. At around mile 7, I was taking a mental stock of how my body was feeling, and I really had a lot in the tank at the 6.2-6.3 pace I was keeping when not running up hill. But I held my pace and didn't give into temptation.

The best part of the end for me, is the fact that the last several miles are on the same bike path that were the leg crushers for the Colorado Marathon. I can't express how good it felt to go steaming past the chair I hat to stop and rub my feet on because the pain was excruciating. Almost like exorcising some demons.

Once I got to 10....it was just a 5K until the finish line, so I opened up and just went. The legs hurt, but no more so than on any of my long runs. The rush of passing people and keeping a good pace was a fantastic feeling.

The last like .2 or .3 they heard you into this long corral type finish...made it hard to keep the same pace...but I think I did pretty well. I finished 13.18 miles in 2:07:19 according to the Garmin. I was very pleased with the  effort....

Short break then I will bring you all up to speed on the last few weeks....

And here is a summary of the last three weeks....

After the half, I will admit, that my calves felt pretty rough. My good friend (and running buddy Ria) was so very kind as to get me some massages for my birthday from a place in Laramie. I had one set up for the day after the half and I was badly in need of it. The massage therapist really worked me over. It most definitely hurt, but over the long term made all the difference.

My running that first week was quite a bit less. I walked a couple of miles after the therapy session and then took off completely on Tuesday. Wednesday was a fairly painful 6 miles, but it was very good to get out and put in the work. The calf pain was still there, but as one would hope, it was slowly going away. Friday I did another 6 miles and the legs weren't feeling too bad. Saturday was maybe the roughest run I have had since I started doing the long distance thing. We had quite the snowstorm on Friday and it continued until Saturday morning. The sidewalks were thick with very heavy wet snow, and there was very little plowing or shoveling going on. I ended up stopping twice to push/dig people out. I got really sunburned on the cutout of my mask on my face, and to be honest...I still look a little dorky with the way it tanned. Glad that I don't have too many runs like that.

The following week, I jumped right back into the schedule and hit all my miles that were planned: 4, 6, 4, then 3 on Friday and 8 on Saturday. There was some pain in the legs, but the runs themselves, besides too cold and slightly windy were all pretty good.

That Sunday, my right calf seized up something fierce. It took probably about two minutes before it would unclinch. The pain was very intense. I iced and stretched and just hoped it would work out for me. The runs this last week were ok, not great. After my final massage the body has felt better. Hopefully I will be able to get through tomorrow with as little discomfort as possible.

Next up....my marathon plan!