So here it is more than halfway through the year and not only have I not met my racing goals of at least two age-group wins, I haven’t been in a single race, period.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.
My son Ben ran in Saturday’s Swiss Days 5K and my dad was the official starter as usual, but I wound up taking Colleen to her travel softball tournament instead of running this year’s race.
Part of it’s due to a hamstring injury that continues to flare up from time to time, but a flood, my work schedule and my daughter’s travel softball schedule doomed one race each, and I only had three on my schedule to begin with.
When I checked to see what the winning time in my age group was for Saturday’s Swiss Days 5K — where I’d once hoped to PR — I was surprised to discover it was quite a bit slower than last year: Just 29:47, or 9:36 a mile. That was a very winnable race, but it was not to be.
There are some things I feel good about from the first half of the year. It was interesting to try a faster 5K training program, and it was cool to learn how to use the treadmill to build in more speed, both on shorter distances and on mile repeats, which is something I want to keep tinkering with.
I’ve also gotten much more confident on my bike, primarily due to sharing a car with my son.
But I hate the way this Waterworld of a summer has kept my sister and I off our favorite trails. And I miss running with the herd in a race, whether I’m trying for an age-group win or just running for fun.
I want to have more fun running in the second half of this year. Seems like that’s a goal I ought to be able to attain.
