The Birth of the Challenge

In the beginning of June 2009, I was reviewing the website runeveryday.com which lists individuals who have run at least a mile per day for at least a year (over 40 years for some). Since I had just completed my second marathon and was running 6 days a week, I said "Why not?' and started my running streak. As I checked out the website further, I came across a list on the website that showed members who have ran the most counties in their state. It was at this time that I came up with my latest personal challenge of running a race in every county in Michigan. I did a little research to see if every county had a race and I found out that all 83 counties had a running race or triathlon. I will use this blog to update my progress throughout the state. I hope you enjoy reading about my exploits, struggles, and successes as much as I enjoy experiencing them.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

A Would Have Been PR and a Goat

Be careful who you are following; they may be lost also!

Those words kept echoing in my head as I ran the last mile of the IceCube Half Marathon on Saturday. I will get into the details of the last mile, but I want to set the stage for you. The IceCube Half Marathon started at the Runner's Performance store in Mt Pleasant and headed out of town. The roads were packed snow and ice once we left the Central Michigan University area. The weather was good and I started out the race on a good pace. Because of the snow and ice, my plan was to run just under a 8:30per mile pace and cruise to a new PR in the half marathon. The bar was not too high since I had only run one half marathon before.

4.5 miles into the race, I was right on schedule with my plan and I felt great. The 10k runners turned around a mile and a half back and the race really thinned out. I was about 1/4 mile behind the next runner and was ahead by about the same margin. This made for a pretty boring race in the early stages. We made a turn for the first out and back and things got better. It was nice to be able to talk to the other runners as they were going by. The next out and back was the best though. At Mile 7, I came across the most unique pacer yet. There was a goat running up and down the road with the runners. The goat would run alongside us until we met someone going the other direction and then the goat would switch and turn around. It was great and made everyone chuckle a little over halfway through.

Around Mile 10, it looked like the new PR was in the bag. I had run a smart race and the plan worked perfectly. A couple miles later, the PR disappeared. The guy ahead of me and I missed the sign to turn into the industrial park and continued straight down the road. I went about 3/4 of a mile before someone came and told us and we went back to where we made the mistake. Now that the two of us were back on the course, we came up on the 12 mile mark. I looked at my Garmin and it said 13.5 miles. I crossed the finish line at 2:01:14 and totaled 14.5 for the race.

All in all, I had a great time. It was fun running the back roads of Isabella County, running with a goat, and getting a few extra miles in during the run. The PR will just have to wait for the next half marathon. And the journey goes on...
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