Pounding the Pavement Again

Today I ran the Spring Equinox 8k race here in Connecticut for the third year in a row. This year, without having done any training, without any kind of cheering section, in the cold and drizzle, I ran my fastest time on this course. Does this make any sense? No.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a pattern for me. The more training I do, the more my times seem to suffer when it comes to running races. Maybe it's that I overtrain when I go on a training program. Maybe it's that I set my expectations too high and psych myself out. The only thing I'm sure about is that it's a frustrating phenomenon.

Regardless of results, though, I still love little, local road races. The experience is often bizarre and sans frills, but nonetheless, I almost always leave giddy and happily exhausted, gnawing on my free bagel and clutching my free tee-shirt.

This year, I started slow and got to pass a lot of people, which is always fun. Most of the people I passed were larger, middle-aged, out-of-shape men, included one sporting teeny tiny shorts, thick gardening gloves, and bags of ice wrapped around his ankles. That was a new one.

And despite my recent twice-a-week runs over the flat-as-a-pancake Chicago streets, I was able to haul myself up the giant hill at the 4k mark without too much trouble. And cruising down the last few miles was just plain fun.

Sure the running community is full of weirdos, but I have no problem admitting I'm one of them. I can tell you for sure I won't be doing a marathon next fall, but this way I might actually get to run more for fun this summer than I did last year. And I'm eyeing the Chicago Half Marathon in September... anyone want to join me?