Spring Season in Review

My spring season has come to a close and it was quite a ride. I’m an officially an ultra-runner now. And I’m having more fun than ever before. Looking back at my goals for 2008 that was clearly important to me coming into this year (and still is):
Have Fun Running: Often I find that focusing too hard on one goal or preparing just for one race can be stressful and may detract from my original reason of why I run: to have fun. My spring schedule is set up in a way to maximize the fun aspect of running.

So, let’s look at the damage I did:

Runnin’ the Rocks 10k: This race was easily the low-point of my running career. I bonked two miles into a six mile race. Not good. But I learned two lessons: 1) Everybody is going to have a bad race. You, me, everybody. And it will teach you a lesson in humility. 2) Don’t run a hard work out less than 24 hours prior to a race and then expect to do well the next day. That’s just not going to work.

Red Top Rumble 11.5M: Now, this was a fun race! Lots of my friends ran this with me. And my confidence level was back to normal.

Thrill in the Hills ½ Marathon: I love Thrill in the Hills. As a matter of fact, I’ve run all of them so far (there have been two). And they have scenic port-a-johns.

Oak Mountain 50k: Going into this race I was really worried. Was I worthy of becoming an ultra-runner? How would my body hold up? My goal was just to fight and toughen things out until the end. Well, it wasn’t all that bad and actually a lot of fun (sense a theme yet?). I will never forget the Oak Mountain Experience!

SweetH2O 50k: Powerlines. Dorkiness. And lots of H2O.

All in all, this has been a phenomenal first half of the year. It gets me very excited for what is to come!