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Marathons and Turkey Trots - must be November
Entry posted by mattw ·
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My last bloop was a collection of what I saw while spectating the marathon spectators. I had a pretty good view as I ran the 26.2 miles through and around downtown Charlotte.
Training was half-hearted. I didn't put in sufficient weekly miles nor was I consistent at speed work. With everything else going on in life, I was somewhat apathetic about it too. I combined that with a cold 3 days before and a fairly consistent 15 - 20mph wind on race day. To ensure a painful day, I started with the 3:15 pace group who started running 7:10 - 7:15 minutes per mile instead of the 7:25 required for that time.
I hit the half in about 1:37, which is right on for a 3:15, but I had already been slowing down and averaging out the "going out too fast" miles. My pace stayed below 8 or low 8s until mile 20 when I slowed to 8:45. From there a few 9 minute miles and a 10:10 on the uphill of mile 26 brought my overall time to 3:34:40.
Not the time I hoped for. Not a bad time. Not a BQ. But I completed marathon number 9 and number 5 for Charlotte. Local is easy and cheap I guess.
I didn't run again until Thanksgiving day. Turkey Trot time! My wife's sister and her kids came down. I did about a half-mile warm-up, but had no expectations. My son (18) and one of his cousins (15) were smack talking each other before the race.
After some traffic dodging I settled into a decent pace around 6:40 for the first mile. I caught my son and he stayed with me for a while. Mile 2 was mostly uphill, slowing me to 6:55. We had both caught the cousin and were all three together for a bit. Mile 3 started downhill so I picked up the pace, leaving the boys. They both went out a bit too fast and were struggling with the distance. Finish time was about 20:30. The boys were only 10 and 15 seconds behind me, with the cousin beating my son. Other family members walked and even did some course cutting I hear. Shameful. I'll let the race director know and ban them for next year.
Around 2,000 participated in the low budget fundraising event with no bibs, no awards, no t-shirts, and no official results. But they had donuts!
I am a 2 hour pace group leader for a local half on the 14th. Last Saturday was a course preview, so running buddy Tim (the other pace lead) and I ran the course and discussed marathon woes (he also ran Charlotte) and what's next. We averaged 8:25 and I was feeling sore and tired after, having mostly taken off the previous 2 weeks.
The desire to get up and run before work has all but disappeared. I ran 4 miles yesterday morning, but silenced the alarm today. Cold and dark are just not as much fun to me these days. For now, I prefer to watch Christmas movies, Disney Plus movies, and the occasional football or basketball game.
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