Post-Milestone and What's Next?

I spent some time pondering what I wanted to accomplish for the fall 2014 racing season. I'd finished my first marathon; I completed a bunch of marathons; I completed a bunch of ultra marathons. With my tendency toward pesky minor injuries and with Dr. James O'Keefe's advice always echoing in my head (to paraphrase: do not run a lot of marathons), there's some anxiety about running long repeatedly. I also wasn't sure I wanted to travel out of state for races this fall. I thought and pondered and reviewed the runmichigan.com calendar and decided that my challenge for October would be to run some back-to-back half marathons.

I. Heroes on Hines

The first half marathon was Heroes on Hines in Plymouth, MI. This was a Running Fit road race along Hines Drive and had all of the usual amenities that Running Fit races have, like portapotties and numerous aid stations with water and fuel. Pre-race, it was pouring rain, which made navigation and packet pickup interesting. A local choir performed the national anthem beautifully, and the runners were off. My strategy for all of these half marathons would be "just keep going." Again, as with most if not all Running Fit races, there were a lot of runners like me (the competitors weren't all elites), so this made the day enjoyable. I didn't push tremendously hard and finished alongside some new friends at around 2:45. I was very pleased. This is what "Run Happy" means.

I needed the jacket in the beginning, didn't want to throw it away, but didn't want it to interfere with race photos, so....

II. Bloody Border Dash

I woke up the next morning and headed to Ohio for the first Bloody Border Dash to benefit the Hemophilia Foundation of Michigan. This was a race put together by runners, and they hit the figurative ball out of the park. Packet pickup was well organized and easy to navigate, race start and finish were in an awesome facility with food, restrooms, and plenty of space for lots of participants, fun music was playing at the start line, the course was incredibly well marked and nicely varied (farms and cities), lots of aid with water and fuel was available. I finished second to last (in my age group? total? I'm not sure) in 3:0-something and got a high five from the Detroit Tigers mascot Paws the day before the Tigers' last game of the season. I was so pleased with this race and had such a fantastic time. This is a race I hope to return to again and again. Note: the closed-eye photo on the race twitter site says I finished in 2:51.

III. Hallowed Half

Next, I put together a bumblebee costume and headed to the Hallowed Half in rural central Michigan. This again was an inaugural race, and packet pickup and start were not super well organized but I think the organizers learned from the experience. Some signage, helping people locate packet pickup, portapotties, and race start would be beneficial I think. A free stretching exercise prior to race start was a lot of fun, and off we went. I really liked the variety offered by this course - it was sort of a loop and a half and had city and rural components and went through a cemetery. The sunset occurred shortly after race start, so this race was spooky! The field was smallish but there were several runners near my race group and/or experience level, which is helpful. This race really shined when full darkness hit - there were numerous well lit aid stations and enthusiastic volunteers cheering. The cornfields on this night were stunningly beautiful, and I passed some small unidentified animals which added to the spooky factor. I was feeling great around 9-10 miles, which is sometimes a tough time for me. I finished in 3-something (scared of the dark!) and - shocker - earned an award for third in my age group. Despite the lack of organization at pickup, the rest of the time I spent at this race was awesome and I really appreciated the work the organization did and the celebratory atmosphere at the finish, so I will very likely return.

IV. Screaming Banshee

Ouch - everything ached when I got up to go to this race the morning after the Hallowed Half. Also, temperatures were below freezing. Brrr. Packet pickup was in a pleasant location in Potterville, Michigan, near Lansing. There was an outdoor covered shelter decorated for the day, a pro photographer, post race beer, and real restrooms. This field would probably be the smallest out of all of my October races, so this was looking to be a tough day and it did not disappoint. The race course went through several pleasant changes of scenery, but I struggled all day and never felt comfortable running. Everything hurt and felt fatigued. I finished dead fantastically last, with escorts. The organization(s) in charge did a good job keeping everything in order. I am curious whether they are interested in growing the field at all or if they'd prefer to stay a small race. Most of the racers ran a 5k or 10k, I believe.

So, to celebrate the passing of another year, I finished four half marathons (kind of) back to back and am pleased with this accomplishment. No PRs were achieved, but I had a lot of fun. I took a restful and satisfying break after I finished these, and now my long term focus is back on the long runs - 100K to 100M. I'd like to complete my 100 miler before I hit my mid-40s - is it at all possible to have this much fun while I'm racing a very long ultra marathon?