A Training Half'
Last night I got home a little early from work, so decided to go for a longer run. It was pouring rain when I arrived at the house, but the sun was shining brightly by the time I suited up and headed out. The first 20 minutes it was like running in a sauna, you could see the moisture raising from the roads as the sun heated up the pavement. Luckily the forest was still cool and damp as I reached the woodline.
My legs felt good, so I was able to maintain a fairly good pace the first hour. I ran part of my normal 14 km (8.7 mi.) loop, then headed out on a longer loop that brought me to the outskirts of Graben, then back along the trail that my running club uses. As I passed by the trailhead there were several club members getting ready to do a 10 mile run. They invited me to join them, but I already had ten miles behind me, so declined and headed back to the house. I ended up with exactly 21.1 km (13.1 mi.) in 1:53:47, not bad for a "training half"!
Well, it's about two and a half weeks until what will probably be my last marathon this year. It's kind of sad really, I've been having such a good time. In October we will be vacationing in the USA and our visit doesn't correspond to any races in the areas where we will be travelling. Of course with my wife along I didn't look too hard.
After vacation the only marathons in Germany (and the surrounding countries) would require an overnight stay, so probably will not be budgeted in. If I get the urge I can always run one of the many 10K races in the area in November/December.
Although it is a bit early to talk about plans for next year, I do have a 50K race on the calendar for the end of January. If I decide to run this race I will need to start training this year. The race is in the middle of the winter, and since I'm not a cold weather runner, it will be a tough one. The race will remain tentative, probably up until the last minute until I see what the weather brings - but at least it's a worthy goal to carry me into the new year.