St. Patrick’s Day Half Marathon – March 2011

So here’s a gross—and sad—but mostly just gross—little story. I took some time off from racing in the fall of 2010, and planned to jump back into things that winter and early spring 2011. My first race was scheduled for February 2011, and I spent some time building up my mileage so I’d be ready to start the ultra game with a bang. All was going well, no injuries, feeling strong, and then, two days after Valentine’s Day, I woke up with a few itchy bumps on my legs.

A day later, the bumps were a full-blown rash. A day after that, they were swollen and infected, and I had hot, swollen, pus-filled welts running up and down both legs. [Pictures redacted to spare you the nightmares.] After several different diagnoses, and many different drugs, my legs were on the mend, but it was a solid 3 weeks before I could run at all, and by that time I had missed two 50ks I’d been planning on running. Plus, the extended downtime made me feel sluggish and I lost a little of my running mojo. I had more big races coming up, and I knew I had to snap myself out of my running malaise and get excited about training again, pronto.

Enter a little race called the St. Patrick’s Day Half Marathon. This was put on by Charlie Alewine Racing, the same director/group that did the Rocky Road 50 Miler I ran in 2010. Charlie has a unique philosophy about races. His are all SUPER low-key (25 runners, max) with no frills and no sponsors—he even asks runners not to bring family or friends to cheer them on! Some folks might not like this but I enjoy the quiet and solitude or trail running, so it’s just fine by me—plus, it means his races are less expensive and generally easy to register for last-minute, both big pluses in my book.

The race was run on the exact same course as Rocky Road, horse trails through a gated community in Orange County. After the monotony of RR I swore I would never do a race there again, but I figured I could tough it out for a half-marathon—after all, it was only 6.55 miles out and then 6.55 back, so I wouldn’t even have to do the same loops over and over again.

Look familiar?

Seeing my old familiar friends the horse trails DID induce a mild case of race PTSD, but for the most part I kept my cool. The weather was awesome—cool, cloudy, a little windy—and the flat course made it easy to let go of everything and just RUN. I definitely felt rusty and didn’t try to push it too hard, but just enjoyed being back on the dirt and running for a few hours. I don’t usually bother with shorter trail races but this was exactly what I needed to light a fire, and it worked like a charm. Spring 2011 season back on track!

Final Stats:
Date:
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Distance: 13.31 (Garmin measured)
Elevation gain: 1500 feet (Garmin measured)
Garmin time: 2 hrs 00 min 16 sec
Official time: 2 hrs 2 min 41 sec (10th/30)

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St. Patrick’s Day Half Marathon – March 2011

So here’s a gross—and sad—but mostly just gross—little story. I took some time off from racing in the fall of 2010, and planned to jump back into things that winter and early spring 2011. My first race was scheduled for February 2011, and I spent some time building up my mileage so I’d be ready to start the ultra game with a bang. All was going well, no injuries, feeling strong, and then, two days after Valentine’s Day, I woke up with a few itchy bumps on my legs.

A day later, the bumps were a full-blown rash. A day after that, they were swollen and infected, and I had hot, swollen, pus-filled welts running up and down both legs. [Pictures redacted to spare you the nightmares.] After several different diagnoses, and many different drugs, my legs were on the mend, but it was a solid 3 weeks before I could run at all, and by that time I had missed two 50ks I’d been planning on running. Plus, the extended downtime made me feel sluggish and I lost a little of my running mojo. I had more big races coming up, and I knew I had to snap myself out of my running malaise and get excited about training again, pronto.

Enter a little race called the St. Patrick’s Day Half Marathon. This was put on by Charlie Alewine Racing, the same director/group that did the Rocky Road 50 Miler I ran in 2010. Charlie has a unique philosophy about races. His are all SUPER low-key (25 runners, max) with no frills and no sponsors—he even asks runners not to bring family or friends to cheer them on! Some folks might not like this but I enjoy the quiet and solitude or trail running, so it’s just fine by me—plus, it means his races are less expensive and generally easy to register for last-minute, both big pluses in my book.

The race was run on the exact same course as Rocky Road, horse trails through a gated community in Orange County. After the monotony of RR I swore I would never do a race there again, but I figured I could tough it out for a half-marathon—after all, it was only 6.55 miles out and then 6.55 back, so I wouldn’t even have to do the same loops over and over again.

Look familiar?

Seeing my old familiar friends the horse trails DID induce a mild case of race PTSD, but for the most part I kept my cool. The weather was awesome—cool, cloudy, a little windy—and the flat course made it easy to let go of everything and just RUN. I definitely felt rusty and didn’t try to push it too hard, but just enjoyed being back on the dirt and running for a few hours. I don’t usually bother with shorter trail races but this was exactly what I needed to light a fire, and it worked like a charm. Spring 2011 season back on track!

Final Stats:
Date:
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Distance: 13.31 (Garmin measured)
Elevation gain: 1500 feet (Garmin measured)
Garmin time: 2 hrs 00 min 16 sec
Official time: 2 hrs 2 min 41 sec (10th/30)

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Trackback URL http://www.runningwithsugars.com/2011/05/09/st-patricks-day-half-marathon/trackback/
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