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| Silver Falls with the 'rents a few years ago. |
I still need to write that Shamrock Recap. Gah. I have a few notes already saved, I just need to buck up and do it. It'll probably be a lot shorter and less elaborate than most my race recaps, but that's okay. I just feel the need to recap any race I really try at.
Unfortunately (or fortunately??), my body was not in a place to do a marathon this year. When I tried to ramp up to ten miles in late May to get ready for the "start" of training in June, I had a huge flair of my psoriatic arthritis. The "long runs" the previous two weeks, I think they were 8 and 9 miles, were absolute death marches with my heart rate in the high 170s. This after my ramp up from 5 to 6 to 7 went swimmingly. So I don't know what the fuck was up.
Anyways, by the time I could realistically try to run distance again, it was late June and the marathon was out the window. Around this time, the Silver Falls Half Marathon opened for registration, and over the years I guess it has gotten less popular. Back in the day you had to be ready to register at 7am to even have a chance. I registered at like 2pm the day it opened without issue. I think it was open for weeks before filling. Long story short, I kind of blacked out and somehow signed up for a trail half marathon in early November. Oops.
The trail half really appealed to me because worst case I could just walk most of it like it was a hike. Generally, a trail half is more forgiving goal. There are uphills you kind of have to walk, your time is going to suck because its a trail so you don't have weird mental hangups about getting "under 2:15" or something, and generally a trail sounds nicer to my body than a road. Basically, I can just go out there, try my best, finish in like three hours, and call it a day. Sounds good.
In preparation, I am increasing my "long run" again. I just did 8 miles last weekend and it actually felt pretty good. My heart rate was in the high 150s and my body was adjusting nicely to the slow increase in mileage. I'll try for 9 this weekend and then 10 the weekend after. I then have two more weekends before the race. We'll see. Basically, I'm now confident I can run a majority of the 13 miles. That wasn't the case a month ago when my runs were capping out at 4 miles.
So that's the update. Once that half is out of the way, I'm sure I'll go into my normal hibernation mode. Every winter I pretend I'm going to work on speed and I never do. So I won't even pretend this year. We've just had the first wave of "winter-like" weather and I could feel it in my body instantly. Hopefully I can feel good enough to try the 15k again next spring in the Shamrock Run.