I feel like my training is starting to come together nicely. I had a good reality check about 3 weeks ago in Hyannis and it was a huge wake up call. Despite nasty weather conditions, my "effort" in Hyannis left something to be desired. A week later, with low expectations and high motivation I ran my ass off at Stu's. I stood on the starting line more worried about my effort than my time. It payed off.
On a hilly course I came through the half marathon at nearly the same time as Hyannis (much flatter) and continued to throw down quick miles. The time of 1:53:49 was nearly four minutes faster than last year and stood out more in my mind than the 2nd overall finish. Although, I was happy to drop to runners late to take second overall.
An 84 mile week on the back of Stu's didn't hurt my progress and now it feels like the nice weather is on its way. It's always nice to be able to log quality miles in 40 - 50 degree weather than it is in 20 - 30 degrees. The weeks will continue to be big for another 6 weeks and then a nice taper into Fargo.
Eastern States looms on the horizon in only a week and half. This will be my 6th straight year at Eastern States and one that I'm really looking forward to. I had an excellent race last year (2:04:23) with an impressive final 10K. This year I will focus more on the same hard effort and see what time that can produce. A sub 2 hour Eastern States is not out of the question and would go a long way for my confidence.
More to come. Thanks for reading.
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