How has it been so long? I meant to do better…honestly although my running has been decent, most everything else has been a struggle. I talked to a career counselor and I have changed some things about how I’m doing my job search, but I still have had no interviews and I haven’t seen a job that just jumps out at me as what I really want – a couple that combine elements of research/human health/nutrition were the best, but nothing has worked out…between days of monotonous data entry and the job search my mental energy is pretty sapped when I’ve had the time to write. Excuses, Excuses…it’s been over two weeks and I haven’t written that race report…

The night before I was debating which socks to wear – I usually wear compression socks and I have a couple pairs that could go with my Team in Training shirt. Purple or Green was the question on Facebook and Instagram. I got a lot (for me anyway – around 40 total) of votes and green and purple were neck and neck almost the whole time. Finally green pulled ahead…I was half dared to wear one of each but green came out several votes ahead and I just wasn’t feeling that bold.

Green Socks won out...

GO St. Louis half marathon race report…It was a very rainy Saturday morning. Because of continuing restrictions they had many small waves of about 50 people starting every 10 or 15 minutes. Overall the race was about 10% of normal. It was a point to point course and we were bused to the start (which didn’t really seem to follow social distancing, but everyone did have to wear a mask.) With such small waves port-o-potty lines were not an issue. The start and the first part of the race were in a park along the Mississippi River. From there we ran south toward downtown St. Louis. We spent time running on top of one of the levees and along a lot of industrial areas that were next to the “greenway” though about half of what we ran was more industrial than green. In a way the rain was good, because other parts of the race were right next to the concrete flood wall, and we would have been cooking on a warm, sunny day. The best part was being around other runners and being able to chat and get a little of that race day social aspect again. The worst part might have been the smells of the industrial area (I think we ran past a sewage plant among other things…) or the pouring rain combined with strong winds on top of the levees or between the buildings downtown at the end of the race. We also had to run up the really steep hill from the riverfront to downtown twice. I ran the whole race with my friend John (who is a TNT teammate, running in honor of his daughter who died of Leukemia several years ago and would be about my age). The wind really blasted the rain in our faces as we ran the last mile downtown. I’m totally looking at the ground in all my finish line photos – I blame the rain and wind…my final time was 2:21:12 by my watch. Not great, or what I would have liked, but if I’m fair, it’s about as good as I could ask for. I haven’t tried to run a fast half marathon (or any long race) for a long time.

Nothing like pouring rain and strong winds blasting it in your face...still should have looked up as I crossed the finish...at least I'm not also reaching to stop my watch?

Still soaking wet, but riding with John back to his house where I left my car (to avoid parking downtown and trying to find him there)

Love the medals this year, they are suncatchers (and not ridiculously large like so many races were doing pre-pandemic at least, I mean it was fun once, but come on, come up with something else...)