Lately I have not felt like much of a runner. Since June, after the Ragnar Relay, I've been mindlessly plodding out a few miles here and there. Going between decent weeks and sparse weeks mileage-wise. Even the weeks with good mileage numbers didn't feel all that great. Not bad, but I wasn't going for anything. There were a few reasons for the perceived malaise.
The fact that the Madison Marathon was called off meant I was not coming off a a fulfilling marathon going into the summer. Sure the half I ran was pretty good, a personal best time, but I usually take a slight break in the summer after the Madison Marathon and this time was somewhat unfufilling with it only being a half.
Another thing was that it was so incredibly hot this summer. Who feels fast in unbearable heat? Not me. So once late July and August came around and I started getting back into the 30 mile weeks I felt like I could not reach the peak I was at in April and May. Especially since I had such a solid plan and trained super hard for the potential marathon at the end of May.
Busy-ness always poses a problem, but I've always been able to work around that. I just lacked energy. I think the biggest reason I felt like a casual runner as opposed to a competitive runner was that I had no race coming up to look forward to. At this point in my professional career finding a marathon that will fit my schedule is getting pretty difficult and Koiné was scheduled to go on a long tour in the fall-which is the peak of racing season. It looked like I might not be racing at all this fall, which I would consider a disaster.
Well the tour got canceled, which is a bad thing, but then I started realizing I could do some of my old favorite races though! What a treat it would be to finally train like I hadn't before! I started thinking that if I put in the effort I could pull off a sub 1:20 half marathon! I had my sights set on the Tyranena Beer Run which is a great race put on by the Tyranena Brewery in Lake Mills. Plus there is an excellent party after the race. Two of my favorite things. Dominating my personal best times in a long race and then drinking beer in the late morning. Last year I pulled off a 1:27 without training and was pretty happy about it. It was a fun course and I love running in Jefferson County. I noticed that my friend Bart came in 4th place with a 1:19 and I thought I might be able to compete with that if I put in the effort. What a great way to pull myself into serious running again. Finally.
Not to be. The race closed literally as I was about to pay my entry fee today. Apparently lots of people like this race and they can't accommodate more than 1500 runners-which isn't a lot. I emailed and begged but it looks like it's not to be. Big time let down.
I'm looking for other races and will probably do the Lakefront Discovery Run at the end of October. A race that is very special to me. I will tell the story tomorrow.
No pictures today. Here's my runkeeper stats and a music video instead.
RunKeeper
VIDEO
