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Vermont City Marathon Race Recap

May 28, 2017
Burlington, VT
2:45:32 -- 17th Place

 Another marathon, another disaster. At least I finished this one.

The Flying Pig Half beat me up more than I thought it did, and I never really recovered. Enter a marathon a little over the edge, and you'll end up with thigh smash before mile 10 and pitiful walking breaks after mile 20.

But I don't want to dwell on this one too much. Lessons learned, for sure, but I'm really trying to approach my running from a much more positive mental framework. So this recap is going to be slightly different: I'm going to focus on some of the things that went well over the course of the whole spring season and then pick out some new things to work on over the summer and fall.

POSITIVES

  • Found joy in running again. 
  • Stayed injury-free.
  • Actually, my Achilles felt better as the season went on.
  • Won the premier local race in an event record time.
  • Returned to the same fitness level pre-injury.
  • Refined what works for me in training.
  • Refined what doesn't work for me in training.
  • Finished a damn marathon.
  • Came close to capturing the spirit of the '70s and '80s.


 NEXT GOALS

  • Consistent, high-mileage training --> Running2Win top 20.
  • Doubles all the time.
  • Get strong.
  • Find a group and/or occasional running partners.
  • Practice patience, especially on race day and most especially in the marathon.

That's it for now. I'm on a brief 10-14 day post-season break, and then I'm planning on ramping back up again (hopefully fairly quickly but under control) and getting in a real solid summer of fundamental training before going into the fall season.
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