Since I'm having a tough time focusing this morning, I thought I might as well update my blog.
Sunday was the Bellingham Bay Half marathon, officially number 5 of my 12 in 12. Not much sleep the night before as I listened to the pouring pouring pouring rain
I had visions of a chilly wet run and garbage bags at the start line.
Luckily the half start time was 9:30, which any half marathoners out there will realize is really late as far as start times go. This meant we could stay at home Saturday night and make the cross-border trek in the morning. Border line-ups were a little heavier than expected but after about a 20 minute wait we were across the border and headed to downtown Bellingham. The rain from the night before was gone and there was a fierce wind blowing the clouds away.
Arrived at the start area in plenty of time, found cheap parking a couple blocks away, late package pick-up went smoothly as did bag drop. By now the sun was shining (although the wind was still blowing) and it was much warmer than expected.
The race started right on time and we were off on a tour of historic Bellingham, it was a great course, a mixture of residential, park, waterfront, trail, and boardwalk. The occasional small hill, both up and down, all around a great course. The full marathoners, did a point to point route, they started at 7:30 and their route joined up with the half course at our 4 mile mark, it was great to run along marathoners who were at about the same pace. The only downside to this course was the wind, it was at our backs for the first 4 miles or so, and then we turned, there were a number of places where you had to squint and keep your eyes almost closed against the dust and dirt blowing around, and lots of debris falling from trees. The volunteers and spectators more than made up for this little inconvenience though. I would definitely recommend this event to anyone looking for a September half, it fits in nicely with tapering time for October marathons - oh and I forgot to mention one of the nicest medals and shirts in a long time!
Not a great time for my result, but not unexpected, training has really taken a back seat for the last couple months and in particular for the last couple weeks. The 4 days to go reference is 4 days left to complete my comprehensive exams: two 20 page papers, one on advocacy coalition theory and one on my methodology for my research project. They are coming along and will get done, but it is a challenge.
So what's up next......well number 6 and the half way point is coming up quick, Thanksgiving weekend in Victoria (where Dave will be running his second marathon), and then November is still undecided. I need some help with this one. Here are the options:
1 - Fall Classic - double loop around UBC - I've done this one a number of times and can't say I've ever enjoyed it, I think this one is November 20th.
2 - The new Ginger Jar half - another double loop this one around Stanley Park, this one is November 27th so it's a week before Vegas.
3 - Phantom trail run options of 12, 19 or 24 km. None of these distances are half marathon length, but 19 is close, this will be a challenge, I'm loving the trail running but boy am I slow, a 12 km run generally takes 1:45, not sure I'm up for these distances.
Let me know what you think - maybe I'll go with the one with the most reccomendations
Ok enough procrastinating, time to get back to the papers and figure out just what it means to code interview data.
Cheers and thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment