Things are getting cold in upstate New York, and the snow has started to accumulate. Bring on the winter! I was fortunate enough to get a long weekend trip to Florida, and the weather this time of year cannot be more perfect. Thursday night I drove to Massachusetts after work to spend the night at my Grandma's house, and we flew first thing in the morning on Friday. Nothing beats escorting your Grandma through the airport and getting to board early! We got the front seats on the plane, ideal for her to straighten out her bad knee as necessary and for me to kick out my legs and not get too stiff.
We landed in Orlando around 10am, meaning we got nearly an entire day's worth of sunshine. First stop was the Track Shack, the local running store that sponsored the event, where I picked up my race bib and t-shirt. When we got back to my parents' home in Deland, I made a cup of pumpkin spice coffee in their Keurig and went out for a gentle three mile run to loosen up the legs a bit. Eventually it was dinner time, and that meant mom's spaghetti and Texas toast, a classic. With a full belly I went to bed early for the 7am race start.
When 4am rolled around, my alarm sounded and I dragged my butt out of bed for a little breakfast and coffee (anybody else think I drink too much of the stuff?). At 5, my mom and I got in the car and drove down to Orlando and we were parked before 6, plenty of time to get down to the start and get a solid warm up jog in. I did a little bit of pace work and felt pretty good about trying to hold a 6:20 average. With twenty minutes until the start, it was time to empty the bladder one more time before the gun. Unfortunately, the line for the bathrooms was just a little too intense (between the half marathon and 5k there were over 5000 runners present and maybe 50 port-o-potties), and in the middle of the city you can't find a tree like you can in the woods. However, there are some less hidden bushes in Orlando, and I wasn't the only guy who saw these as a golden oppurtunity.
I made it to the start line with plenty of time to spare, limber legged, and ready to fly. Luckily, the race had seeding by minute per mile pace, so even with 3000 others starting at the same time, I never had to fight a crowd. The first mile had a gradual downhill, making it easy to find a good long stride early, and my GPS watch read 6:09. Nice! For the rest of the race I ran like a metronome, with mile splits ranging from 6:13 to 6:22. I was hoping to run a sub 1:20:00, which requires a 6:06 average, but based on my lack of experience in this race distance, I decided the run it a little on the conservative side so not to die too early. It paid off, and for the last tenth of a mile I kicked it in at a 5:38 pace, a strong finish! I came in with a time of 1:22:48, a 6:19 average, more than 6 minutes better than my fastest half marathon before then.
Post race meant time to take advantage of two important race sponsors, chocolate milk and Michelob Ultra. My entry fee included a free carton of milk and 2 beers. I had finished my chocolate milk and was onto the beers less than 20 minutes after crossing the finish line. After cashing in my two beer vouchers, I got in the line again to purchase more, and another runner decided he was already tired enough and was looking to give away his vouchers. Awesome! I enjoyed a total of 6 beers before 10am while waiting for the official results to be posted. My run put me in 30th overall and 8th in a competitive age group packed with college cross country and track stars from Embry Riddle, University of Central Florida, and even the British Royal Air Force.
It wouldn't be a complete Saturday if there wasn't a little bit of nightlife, so when we got back home I hopped in bed and slept off my first hangover of the day. I woke up, got dressed, and hopped in the car to drive out to Ocala and see one of my college roomates, Erin. Erin is living in Ocala training for three day eventing, the equestrian equivalent of triathlon, which is made up of dressage, show jumping, and cross country. It's a very cool sport that requires some serious versatility from a single horse. Whenever I feel like complaining about how expensive the nice bike parts are and what a bitch it is to transport a bike for a race out of town, I think about how lucky I am to not have to feed my bike, take it to a vet, or haul a humongous trailer to get it to a race. Erin and I relived our glory days in Gainesville, the huge college town and home to the Gators. As much as I love running in the perfect weather and sunshine, hitting the bars and clubs is infinitely more enjoyable when the weather rocks too.
While I was soaking up the sunshine in Florida all weekend, my college swim team was rocking out in pool at the Liberty League championships in Rochester, NY. The team had too many awesome performances to mention, but I want to take a moment to note a couple of sweet swims by my boys Nick and Peter, who both cracked 18 minutes in the 1650 freestyle in times of 17:58 and 17:59, respectively. Exciting stuff to see, and I can't wait to see how these boys do in the coming months and when they get a full taper in February. Keep it up, thorouhbreds.
Sometimes I miss my college days. It was cool being able to hit the bars recklessly most weekends and train with the coolest swimmers a guy could ask for. It's a blessing to still be in close proximity to my college swim team and running club. With that said, this Fall has given me a shift in training focus that my triathlon performance needed. With a solid 3 months of nearly exclusive run training, I'm more confident on my feet than ever. I look forward to getting back into triathlon season, and more than ever, I can look forward to getting off my bike and competing harder than ever in the run leg. For my competitors, count yourself lucky if you get start the run after me, because anybody in front of me after the bike ride is going to be hunted. I don't plan on holding on to dear life with running next season. I plan on wielding run fitness like a weapon. Time to get back in the pool and find my stroke again, happy training friends.
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