Day 28 without a break in training! My record is 37, day 26 was the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Arizona and day 27 was a really rough one. Mar and I went for an easy run in Phoenix. It was a beautiful 77* and Mar talked me into running for 45 minutes before we hit the road back to Cruces. I was happy we did, but it really hurt which must have meant I pushed pretty hard the day before. I know my time will not be too impressive to most, but I will take it. 1 hour 28 minutes flat which is 6:43 min per mile pace for 13.1 miles. The last time I did a half marathon was two months ago and I ran a 1:31 so 3 minutes faster is awesome for me. There were other trisports.com team members there who ran really fast! I was happy for them and I know this season will be a highly competitive one. I do need to start hitting the pavement on the bike some time soon then I will feel my training is coming along quite well. My PR for the half is 1:25 which I did in Dec. 2009 in Tucson (downhill) and my PR for a flat course was just seconds under 1:28 which was back in 2005 when I was turning some fast run splits (for me). This tells me that I am back to where I was 5 or 6 years ago when I felt pretty damn confident going into any race I entered. Needless to say I am getting excited for this season.
The trip to Phoenix was also a really fun one. My mom, grandma, Mar, and the kids all went. I met up with my buddy Mark the night before the race and stayed with him then went back to my brother's place afterwards. This allowed my family to sleep in for a change on race morning and they were all very pleased. Mark's daughter is married to my brother in law. Turns out he and his son are both triathletes who also enjoy doing the occasional half marathon. We all went to the Hanu Hawaii 70.3 last summer and been meeting at different races ever since. As a matter of fact I probably wasn't even going to do the race on Sunday if Mark hadn't called and invited, now who knows, Rock and Roll New Orleans half just may happen??
It's always good to see my older brother and this time was no different. We were even able to watch some some very old 8 mm family movies which dated back from 1963 to 1977 (thanks to the drama teacher at VMS who loaned me the projector). I was able to take some pics with my phone from the movies and I will try to post them (below). The first pic was from a Christmas movie when I was 2. My dad and big brother are in the background. This was my very first "tri bike". The second picture was from a movie when I was 6. It was pouring out, but there I was riding my bike up and down the driveway with my trusted dog Heidi. Some days are still that fun!!
Solid race Bro! Keep the training rolling :)
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