Harry's Blog
Hello, I have been running for About 5 years now! I live up on the Iron Range and do the majority of my runs up here, though I do run in races all over. I have run 8 marathons, and a few Half Marathons! Lately my focus has been on getting in more Half Marathons, because after running my first one in June 2012, I decided I loved the distance! Running is a huge part of my life, and I plan on doing it for many years to come. I love participating in races, they are always such a fun time and you can meet many interesting people at each event. I have met several runners over the years and have heard many interesting stories about their runs, and places they have traveled! Running is a great hobby that I feel most people can do, for me it is about competing with myself, and staying healthy at the same time!
June 20, 2012: Half and Full report
I am breaking the cycle, and adding a blog much sooner than my normal 6 month waiting period. I just finished Grandmas a few days ago, and I am ok with how I did. I was hoping to finally break into the 3:30's time, but my plan changed sometime after mile 16. I was holding a decent pace till then, and thought I may pull it off, but then I started slowing somes, and then started having muscle spasms in my quads around mile 20, and then full on cramps in the quads around 21. The last five miles I spent walking/running to fight off the cramps, which my right Hamstring had also joined the party of cramping. My goal changed from 3:35 to beat last years time, to get under 4 hours. I jogged in the last .2 miles not walking even though the cramps were pretty bad then, out of pride and several thousand spectators on both sides. I finished at 3:55:14 which is right in the middle of my times, and not so bad compared to other Marathons where I cramped around the same point in the race. I am hoping to keep my training going strong and do a PR in Ashland for the Whistlestop in October.
I also ran the Minneapolis Half Marathon a couple weeks before Grandmas, and that race went much better. I found I really like halfs, and plan on doing many more. It was my first official half so it was a PR, and I aimed for a 1:38 time, and finished in 1:37:36 so I stayed right on goal. Right when I was getting to the point I wished it was over, it was! Halfs are great! It was interesting because they started the Full an hour before the half, which I thought was strange, but most likely due to the temp being in the 70's they wanted the runners to all be done earlier. This led to me seeing the top two runners of the full pass by me in the final mile, which led to extra cheers from the crowd! This was a great experience and I will definietely do more halfs.
I am just about recovered from Grandmas, and may go for a light run today to make sure everything works. I feel good, and hope I can keep up the training and for the first time break 4 hours in Ashland!
Comments
Hello Harry!
I too live on the Range.. A little North in the Cook area.
I did my first 1/2 marathon this year (the Garry Bjoklund) in Duluth. It was challenging, but I'm glad I did it.. I am already plotting my training for next year. I only started running about 10 months ago to get into better shape and I've found out, I enjoy it more than I thought I would. Perhaps one day I'll see you at a 1/2 marathon!