no more zero

I've been a really bad blogger. I know it. Sorry.

Basically, the Queens Half Marathon beat the crap right out of me. It was the worst race I think I have ever done. And that is saying a lot! It was 13.1 miles of pure hell on July 24. It was horribly, terribly hot. I, of course, had to get up super early to drive to Queens. Before the race, after roaming around for a little while, I finally found some of my R2R teammates. I love those guys! Most of us lined up towards the back. I stuck with them for about the first mile but realized I really needed to pull back and that if I tried to keep with them much longer, it was going to be a disasterous day. Little did I know, it was going to be a disasterous day anyway!

They peeled off to wait in the first porta potty line. Still...after waiting there for what they said was like 10 minutes, they gave up and started running. Naturally, they caught and passed me! Speed demons I tell ya!

Most of the race is a hot, hellish blur. This is the first time I can remember thinking about dropping out of a race. I didn't. But it was HOT. Did I mention it was HOT?! It took me more than three hours to finish and at several points, people around me commented on horribly they were performing and how it was and how awful they felt. At least I wasn't alone!

The week after the race I didn't run a bit. Nada. Zero. Bad idea. So last week I knew I had to step it up. I got in a solid 18 miles. I thought about making a few of my runs longer to get in more miles but didn't want to overdue it after a week of nothing. So last week was successful. I also tried to push my pace a bit.

This week I have the Bronx Half Marathon on Sunday. Well, it sorta counts as next week but I am thinking of it like it is this weekend so it is my weekend long run. I have never run the course before and though I'm not totally looking forward to it, it is truly very nice to have run a half marathon before 10am!