Running Prowess, or the Lack Thereof

I survived the Stoneman Sprint Triathlon and feel pretty good about the experience. I still don't quite have my mind wrapped around it, so that will have to be a post for another day. It was my "A" race for the summer, and all my energy was directed toward completing my first triathlon.

So now that it's behind me, my next midlife-crisis-athletic-endeavor will be the Healthy Woman's Biathlon on September 14 (I think). This will be the first year for this race --- it's a 12 mile bike ride followed by a 5k race. Some of my running buddies are testing the multisport waters on this one. We're going to try out the course tomorrow morning bright and early. The only part that should be challenging is a stretch on West Washington Street that carries you over a series of camelback hills.

At the end of September is the Quad Cities Half Marathon, which will be a new experience for me. It's in Moline, Illinois, so it's an overnighter. I booked a room at the host hotel. No way am I sharing it with anyone either. I'm just an ass in that regard. I love my friends and want to keep it that way.

Let me just say that I am a slow and lazy runner. Age group awards elude me because the effort required to improve is just not something I've been willing to put in. I did a marathon in May. It took me 5 hours and 50 minutes. Granted, the course was a bit longer than 26.2 due to a house fire, and my running buddy had some stomach issues that necessitated a couple of long port-o-potty stops. Sure, it would have been easy to leave her behind, but we trained together.

This lack of running prowess bothers me to no end. Periodically our little group of runners picks up a "new gal" who starts out running slowly, but "graduates" to a faster group. Either he or she is gifted genetically or has managed to make improvement a tangible goal. I tend to think it's more of the latter.

Six half marathons, a full marathon, numerous 5 and 10ks, biathlons and a sprint tri later, I'm still struggling to achieve an 11 minute mile pace. On long runs, my habit of taking walk breaks can stretch this out to a 13 minute pace. It bothers me. A lot. I want to graduate.