roughly right
actually, by mid-September i was “all right” when i lined up on wisconsin avenue for al’s run. i had no pain in my right calf and was able to average 6:10 per mile pace for 8K (4.97 miles) which put me second in the M40-44 age group. as a team hillrunner.com, we finished fifth and three of us received age group awards.
after not having any issues with running at a faster pace, i stepped up the training volume so i could run a fall marathon. late in october, i tweaked my calf again – – twice. once on the run and another time when mowing the lawn. being a bit of a blockhead, i signed up for the marathon anyway.
to take a bit of pressure off my calves, i slipped heel lifts into my running shoes and toed the line for the inaugural milwaukee running festival marathon. i ran at a reasonable pace for the first half but was putting a lot of effort into maintaining it on a fairly windy day on a challenging course. shortly after the half, i began to slow and the reality of it not being my day began to sink in.
with six miles to go, the course turned east which put the wind at our backs. i’ve been there before, struggling through the later miles of a marathon. my focus shifted to simply left – right – repeat and i eventually crossed the finish line in 3:25:56.
on a bad day for me, i was still able to muster my 9th fastest marathon with an average pace of less than eight minutes a mile. to be honest, my calf really wasn’t an issue but my quads were real sore which suggests i wasn’t prepared enough for the hills.
i’d say that i bounced back fairly quick from the marathon and was able to take advantage of an early snowfall to do some snowshoeing. for the year i’m up to nearly 2,500 miles on a little more than 300 days of running. i don’t have any races in mind for the rest of the year but i am aiming to push my miles past my current best of 2,610 miles.
9/1 – 7 miles
9/2 – 7 miles
9/3 – 7 miles
9/4 – 7 miles
9/5 – 8 miles
9/6 – 7.25 miles
9/7 – 7 miles
9/8 – 7 miles
9/9 – 7 miles
9/10 – 7 miles
9/11 – 7 miles
9/12 – 18 miles
9/13 – 7 miles
9/14 – 7 miles
9/15 – 7 miles
9/16 – 6 miles
9/17 – 5 miles
9/18 – off
9/19 – 1 mile w/u, 8K (4.97 miles) in 30:52
9/20 – 9.25 miles
9/21 – 7 miles
9/22 – 7 miles
9/23 – 7 miles
9/24 – 7 miles
9/25 – 7 miles
9/26 – 14 miles
9/27 – 21 miles
9/28 – 7 miles
9/29 – off
9/30 – 7 miles
September Totals: 227.5 miles (28/30 Days, 32 hours & 40 minutes)
10/1 – 7 miles
10/2 – 7 miles
10/3 – 11 miles
10/4 – 14 miles
10/5 – 7 miles
10/6 – 7 miles
10/7 – 7 miles
10/8 – 7 miles
10/9 – 7 miles
10/10 – 11 miles
10/11 – 14 miles
10/12 – 7 miles
10/13 – 7 miles
10/14 – 7 miles
10/15 – 7 miles
10/16 – 7 miles
10/17 – 11 miles
10/18 – 7 miles
10/19 – 7 miles
10/20 – 7 miles
10/21 – 7 miles
10/22 – 7.5 miles
10/23 – 6 miles
10/24 – 6 miles
10/25 – 6 miles
10/26 – 6 miles
10/27 – off
10/28 – off
10/29 – 5 miles
10/30 – 3 miles
10/31 – off
October Totals: 212.5 Miles (28/31 Days, 30 hours & 50 minutes)
11/1 – 26.2 miles in 3:25:56
11/2 – off
11/3 – 4 miles
11/4 – 5 miles
11/5 – 6 miles
11/6 – 7 miles
11/7 – 7 miles
11/8 – 7 miles
11/9 – 5 miles
11/10 – 7 miles
11/11 – 7 miles
11/12 – off
11/13 – 6 miles
11/14 – 8 miles
11/15 – 7 miles
11/16 – 7 miles
11/17 – 5 miles
11/18 – off
11/19 – off
11/20 – 7 miles
11/21 – 6 miles (snowshoeing)
11/22 – 11 miles
MTD – 138.25 miles (18/22 Days, 20 hours & 31 minutes)
YTD – 2,499 miles (303/326 Days, 366 hours & 50 minutes)
Odometer – 42,648 miles