Ugh! $25 Torture in San Antonio
Boys and girls, this is getting ugly! Ugh! I feel like I've completely fallen off the wagon here.
Yes, I got up at 3:30 a.m., was out the door at 3:50 a.m. and drove to McAllister Park near the San Antonio airport to register for the Carrabba's Classic Half Marathon.
Yes, it was as hot as could be, obviously humid and the cloud cover that looked as if it might have been a benefit blew off at the start of the race.
Yes, I hadn't run this distance at all since May 1st.
Yes, I had been injured and sick.
However, I still expect better despite all of that. Oh well, it just means that I have to work harder to get back to where I was.
Last year, I covered the same 4-loop course in 2:31:13. This was consistent with my half marathon performances earlier in 2004. 2:32 in Houston (January), 2:29 in Little Rock (March), 2:29 in Columbus (April) and 2:32 in Indianapolis (May).
Saturday, it was a disappointing 2:43:57 (gun time). The big difference? The last 3.20 miles. Even though I have overcome the calf (or probably achilles muscle) tear / pull, my calves started to cramp probably due to a number of reasons: lack of doing the distance and hydration.
The first leg is 3.88 miles, the next two are 3.01 miles each and the last, which includes a .19 dash to the finish, is 3.20 miles. The first leg of 3.88 miles, I covered in an acceptable time, for me, of 10:26/mile -or- 40:26.93.
Last year, I was at 1:14 at the 6.89-mile mark. This year, 1:17.03.38.
At the 9.9-mile mark? 2004, 1:50. 2005, 1:56:07.44.
The last 5K? Last year: roughly 41 minutes. This year: Ugh! 47:49.56.
Am I really complaining too much? No, not really. I bit off more than I could chew actually, but I need to get back to where I'm capable of being and I just have to work harder to get back there. Even though I know that New York City is a tough course, I'd like to get into a position to equal my 4:55:08 time at Houston earlier this year.
The folks with the San Antonio Roadrunners do a pretty nice job of putting on an event in conjunction with Roger Soler's Sports. Despite the hot temperatures and winding course through McAllister Park, the event is well organized, communication and timing (by IAAP) is excellent and the post-race food by Carrabba's is certainly as good as you are going to find anywhere.
Yes, I got up at 3:30 a.m., was out the door at 3:50 a.m. and drove to McAllister Park near the San Antonio airport to register for the Carrabba's Classic Half Marathon.
Yes, it was as hot as could be, obviously humid and the cloud cover that looked as if it might have been a benefit blew off at the start of the race.
Yes, I hadn't run this distance at all since May 1st.
Yes, I had been injured and sick.
However, I still expect better despite all of that. Oh well, it just means that I have to work harder to get back to where I was.
Last year, I covered the same 4-loop course in 2:31:13. This was consistent with my half marathon performances earlier in 2004. 2:32 in Houston (January), 2:29 in Little Rock (March), 2:29 in Columbus (April) and 2:32 in Indianapolis (May).
Saturday, it was a disappointing 2:43:57 (gun time). The big difference? The last 3.20 miles. Even though I have overcome the calf (or probably achilles muscle) tear / pull, my calves started to cramp probably due to a number of reasons: lack of doing the distance and hydration.
The first leg is 3.88 miles, the next two are 3.01 miles each and the last, which includes a .19 dash to the finish, is 3.20 miles. The first leg of 3.88 miles, I covered in an acceptable time, for me, of 10:26/mile -or- 40:26.93.
Last year, I was at 1:14 at the 6.89-mile mark. This year, 1:17.03.38.
At the 9.9-mile mark? 2004, 1:50. 2005, 1:56:07.44.
The last 5K? Last year: roughly 41 minutes. This year: Ugh! 47:49.56.
Am I really complaining too much? No, not really. I bit off more than I could chew actually, but I need to get back to where I'm capable of being and I just have to work harder to get back there. Even though I know that New York City is a tough course, I'd like to get into a position to equal my 4:55:08 time at Houston earlier this year.
The folks with the San Antonio Roadrunners do a pretty nice job of putting on an event in conjunction with Roger Soler's Sports. Despite the hot temperatures and winding course through McAllister Park, the event is well organized, communication and timing (by IAAP) is excellent and the post-race food by Carrabba's is certainly as good as you are going to find anywhere.
posted by WalkSports.com | 9:07 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Jon- I understand your frustration, but I think you did a damn good job nonetheless. At least you are out there running. I'm 2 weeks on the bench with probably anouther 4 ahead of me. I wish I could have bene out there running in the heat too!
I saw your blog entry about loving the heat. God bless you! And you are tall and skinny too .. lol I still have some room to work off. The bottom line though is that I needed to give this leg some rest and now I have to build it back up. You probably need the rest right now too. On a side note, a fellow Strider, and a friend of mine, just announced that she was going to increase her mileage and shoot for a sub 4 marathon in January. (She said she did Austin in 2000 in 4:40. I'm only four minutes off of her in the half. 2:12 to 2:16.) It's going to be my motivation to get my butt into gear!
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