Monkey Off My Back

Yesterday I ran the Kentucky Derby Festival MiniMarathon in Louisville. A couple of years ago, I dropped out of this race at 10 miles because of an IT band (knee) problem.....making this the ONLY race I've ever entered that I failed to finish. Needless to say, its the type of thing you remember.

So, yesterday was definitely vengeance for my previous attempt. I finished in 1:34:36, and as it was about 80 degrees out there on the course, I even allowed myself a couple of 20 to 30 second walk breaks in the second half to make sure I didn't totally blow up in the heat. (My pace through the first 6 miles was 6:50, and my finishing pace was 7:14, so I cost myself a little time....but I made it through in a respectable time, which is fine since I felt a little under-trained for a half marathon). My goal time was 1:28:00, and finished 165th (149th for the men) but I'm fine with where I came in, and think I can keep up my training to run another couple of longer races over the summer.

Other things I learned yesterday: I don't like Orange Vanilla flavor Roctane. WAAAY too sweet for a 6-miles-in recharge. Also, I'm pretty good at keeping my pace while listening to my iPod (which I've never done in a race before....usually just to train). Finally, I learned that it is a bad idea to park downtown with 10,000 other people when a good number of streets heading out of town will be closed after the half marathon for the 2000 people who ran a full marathon in 80-something temps.

Thanks to everyone who cheered for me along the way (KCRS people) and thanks to Camille for the free entry (FF Louisville). And a special congratulations to Ed, who finished his first half marathon yesterday in 2:39!!