Race Report for The Oleksak Lumber Spring Half-Marathon

This morning the girls and I headed off to Westfield for the Oleksak Lumber Spring Half-Marathon. I was debating about whether or not to do this race with the stroller or to run it solo, but decided this past week that I would take the girls. My rationale was that it would keep me from running too fast. And truth be told, I simply enjoy racing with my girls. My mission today was simply to test out my left tibia and run at my marathon pace (9 minute mile).

I briefly met Bill from the Running Hot Meetup.com group, but felt badly because I had to cut the conversation short to run back to my jeep for some lip goop. I forgot how cold Spring races can be. I did meet more than a few nice people today, many of which had run the St. Patrick’s Day race last weekend, and some of which remembered me (more likely they remembered the stroller) from that race.

More than one parent remarked today how lucky I was to have not one, but two children who would tolerate long runs in the stroller. I think it is just second nature to them. They’ve always known stroller runs as simply normal.

It was a little chilly today (only 41 degrees with a stiff steady wind out of the SSE). The first 4 miles were almost all uphill, including a very steep 3/4 mile 200 foot climb at mile 2. To make matters worse, the first 4 miles ran in a SSE direction. The course overall was very pretty. The girls got to see a few rivers, some horses and cows, and lots of farmland. I enjoy scenic country courses like this one and will probably run this race again next year.

As far as the race amenities and swag - pretty bare bones, but that’s fine with me. I got a white long sleeve tech tee and I received my first wooden finisher’s medal, so that was kind of cool.

I met my goal and finished in under 2 hours at 1:59:11 for a 9:05 pace.

Now I have mixed feelings about my performance today. On the downside: My first thought is that I ran a very similar hilly type stroller half marathon last November in 1:51. That’s 8 full minutes faster. There is no denying that I have lost some fitness since last Fall. On the good side: I ran 13 miles today while pushing 80 something pounds and felt OK. My leg cooperated until about mile 10 and then it started to really ache. I am faster and fitter this year than I was last Spring, so hopefully that’ll mean that I’ll be in better shape this Fall compared to last fall. I don’t know.

Do any of you find that your Spring fitness is less than your previous Fall’s? I’m curious.

Oh yeah, one other thing - I was running a little late when leaving the house this morning and I couldn’t find my bandaid stash. Bandaids you ask? Yeah, this may be TMI, but when I run longer distances, I always put bandaids over my nips so they don’t chafe. Well, today was quite cold and when I started sweating it only made my “high beams” worse. So when I got home I noticed that I had bled through two layers. Today, I became “That guy.” So shameful. Pic of the carnage below.