2010 Race Season: Did I Do All That (Part 1)

It’s been a hell of a year.  Now that I’ve had 24 hours to recover after my last race of the year, it’s time to look back over what I’ve accomplished in 2010 – and thinking about it is overwhelming.  Did I really do all this in the last 10 months?  No wonder I’m ready for a break.

Race #1 – Austin Half Marathon

Febrauary 14th – Austin TX – 13.1 miles – 2:19:36

The year didn’t start out that great.  I trained my little heart out for this race, and ended up getting really sick that week.  I was able to get through it, but it was 19 minutes longer than I was hoping for – it wasn’t even a PR.  However, I’m pretty proud of the fact that I was able to finish the race, and really push myself through the sickness and the incredibly hilly course even though the result of pushing myself wasn’t what I would have liked.  At first, I told myself I did great considering, but after, I started feeling a little bitter about it and wanted revenge.  While I didn’t get back to training for anything for a while, I did return to running much quicker than the last half, which made me happy.  I’m not sure I’d do this again.  The course was seriously brutal, it was expensive, and the finish line was a cluster, and this is one of my really vulnerable to sickness times of year.  But it is… close.  No traveling.  So I’d never say never.

Race #2 – Urban Dare

March 6th – Austin, TX – Scavenger Hunt – 3:59

This was just a lot of fun.  For my birthday I decided I wanted to do something different, and signed us up for a scavenger hunt all around downtown Austin.  We walked the whole thing (minus the last bit since we were afraid we’d get DQ’d because we took too long), but it was an awesome afternoon trying to solve riddles and trekking over 9 miles around the city.  I would definitely do this one again (or something like it).  They have one by bike that sounds like a blast too!

Race #3 – Du Loop

April 3 – Flatonia, TX – 5k run, 8 mile bike, 1 mile run – 1:18:45

This race was actually at a friend of our neighbor’s property.  There were only about 30 people, it was totally unofficial, I only had a WEEK to train, but it was my first race with a bike.  I was hooked.  I loved the training, I loved the challenge of two disciplines, and it was both awesome and humbling to get SPANKED by almost everyone there.  Including people over twice my age.  And then sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows and listening to stories of ultra marathons.

Race #4 – Warrior Dash

May 2 – Forney, TX – 3.5 mile mud/obstacle run – 43:35

Was it the craziest frickin’ day of my life like the race advertised?  Maybe not, but it was a HELL of a lot of fun.  We ran the course together, through each wall climb, mud slide, muddy creek run, and of course, the leap over the fire.  Did we go fast?  Nah.  But we had a blast.  Then, we set up camp all afternoon with some beer and watched people go over the fire.  It was my first race experience where I didn’t just want to die after and really enjoyed the festivities and enjoyed being a spectator.  I would (and did) do this race again.

Race #5 – Gladiator Games 5k

May 21 – Austin, TX – 5k – 25:10

I had no hopes for this one – but I ended up being very glad I did.  I hadn’t been running that much lately because my heels were hurting, but it was a free 5k so we decided to come out and give it a go, even though we were debating not doing it even as early as that morning.  I still will never know if it was a short course, but I do know I ran it hard, and anything’s possible.  Zliten also ran it hard (he had been training) and got his best time ever – 32:16.  I went directly from this race, cooled down a bit, and then got in line for the obstacle course.  I was doing great until the monkey bars…damn my lack of grip strength!  I still am pretty amazed at my time – and will feel much better one day when I duplicate this (and hopefully smash the time) at an official type race.

This wraps up the first half of the year.  What happened in the second half?  Stay tuned for the next post…