The Start of a New Season

Yesterday marked the kickoff of my Spring/Summer season of running events. I ran in the Inaugural Lansing (MI) Half Marathon. My dad told me about it a couple months ago but I didn't decide to actually run in it until a few days before because I was waiting to see what the weather was going to be like. A lot of good that did because it ended up being 45 degrees and very windy. Since I had committed to going to another event in Lansing the night before I decided to buck up and brave the cold. Other than the many cracks and potholes in the road the course was quite nice. It took us through the farmlands of Michigan State University, through a few neighborhoods, and through Potter Park. I anticipated the course being very flat but they managed to find the only hills in Lansing and put them all in. Running up those hills with wind gusts coming straight at me was tough but luckily I had on a brimmed hat so I put my head down and pushed forward. Some people were bold (crazy) enough to run in shorts and a tank top but I wasn't messing around. I had on warm leggings, three layers up top (short sleeve, long sleeve, and pull over), gloves, a hat, and ear warmers. All that kept me warm and at no time did I feel the need to shed any layers (except the gloves which I took off for a few miles but had to put back on towards the end when my fingers were going numb).

I finished in 2 hours 2 minutes and my dad, stepmom, and Carter were there to cheer me along during the course and Jimmy made it just in time to see me finish. I know I say I HATE to run in the cold but so far I've had my two best times in cold weather. Maybe the cold weather helps keep me hydrated since I'm not sweating as much as I would be in warm weather. I'll have to test that theory as the weather warms up. I would love to improve my time to 1 hour 50 minutes which is 6 minutes faster than my best time.

My next race is the Mini Marathon (half marathon) in two weeks. I'm running with Jimmy's cousin who will be running in his first half marathon. My job is to get him to finish in under 2 hours 10 minutes so I likely won't reach my personal time goal in this one. Two weeks after that I'm going to do the Geist Half Marathon. My friend who's done it before says it's a pretty challenging course but if the weather is warm I'm hopeful that I'll get a personal best. I should be in better running shape by then. The rest of my schedule looks like this:

May 26th: Lawrence Sprint Triathlon (I haven't decided on this one yet. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up to get back on my bike)
June 24th: iChallenge Indy Classic Duathlon (1 mi run, 17.5 mi bike, 4 mi run)
July 21st: Indy Sprint Triathlon (500 meter swim, 10 mi bike, 3 mi run)
August 4th: Eagle Creek Trail Run (15K)

That's all I've planned so far. There is the Indianapolis Marathon in October and the Monumental Marathon in November but it's usually too cold for my taste during that time of year. This is an ambitious schedule for me so wish me luck!