Better to Laugh

The event is almost here! I ran 10 miles last Saturday in Wisconsin; we stayed at the farm for Easter with the Mulders. Wow, I didn’t realize how much rolling hills can tighten up your calves! Not to mention how tiring the wind blowing across open fields is. It was a great training run! I kept praying that no dogs would run into the road growling and barking, since my husband warned me that he met some unhappy canines last time he ran the block. By the way, the perimeter of the neighborhood block is about 5 miles; rural neighborhoods are very spacious. I saw one dog a couple of farms down the road, but I know him; he pretty much keeps to himself. The only other dog was on a chain. Other than watching that I didn’t get run over by a milk truck, it was an enjoyable run in the dairy air.

I got the race confirmation card for my 13th OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I am starting in corral D! I just stared, speechless, at the confirmation card, but in my mind I was yelling yippee, heck yeah, woo hoo, and any other burst of appropriate, celebratory words I could think of! I ran upstairs to show my husband (who starts in corral B every year). He said that when he got the mail and first saw corral D he thought, “Why did they move me back to corral D?” Then he realized he was looking at my card. He was really excited for me and himself, since he won’t have to wait as long for me to finish.

In previous races, I walked with spurts of running and finished on average at 03:20:00. My usual start corrals over the years were T, V, W, and even Z. Starting in corral Z and seeing the back cutoff for the 30,000+ runners is a strange feeling, not to mention boring, as it took almost an hour to get to the start line after the horn sounded.

Last year was my first attempt at running most of the race, finishing in 2:24:12. That time qualified me for a preferred start in corral D! Me, the one who used to despise running because it was too boring! Am I ready for this? I hope so, because I am doing it in 19 days and a wake-up. Yesterday’s nine mile run felt really good, so I say bring it on!

I didn’t realize it until I looked at the results, but I beat my PR by almost 3 minutes at the Sam Costa Half Marathon today! The start was a chilly 27 degrees, and there was a 10-15 mile an hour NE headwind for the first half of the race. There were lots of hills, too. But the sun was shining, and the 11 year-old boy who eventually beat me kept me pushing at the end. I did what I came there to do:  Run the first 8 miles at under a 10 minute pace and run/walk the rest. It was a great, personal race!

We went from warm, sweaty 70s on Wednesday to cold, goose pimply low 40s on Thursday…for the high! Where did spring go? We went from summer to winter in twelve hours. Or did we get time warped back to February?

I have my first half marathon of the season tomorrow morning. I plan to run the first 8 miles and walk/run the rest as training for the half marathons coming up in May. I thought I would have to worry about getting too warm, but the temperature at sunrise might be in the 20s. At least I have my gloves and mask clean and ready to go. Since I ran outside all winter, I should handle it pretty well. I would actually prefer running with the temperature in the 40s than the 70s; I hate being too hot. I am just weird that way.