Three Strikes and You're Out!

Last weekend, I ran my 16th Howl at the Moon 8-hour ultra. Sorta. I didn't run much and I didn't go the full 8 hours. I dropped out after 5 hours and 26.32 miles. Officially, that's still an ultra, but nothing to be proud of at the end of the day. This was my third bad race in a row. In 2015, I stopped at 6 hours and 29.61 miles. Last year I quit at 4 hours and 23.03 miles. This year continued my streak of poor performances. I haven't even had the determination to stick it out for the full 8 hours. Sad.

No more Howl at the Moon for me. Three strikes and you're out! I'm out.

I'm turning my attention to shorter races and faster training. For the remainder of this year, I have two half-marathons (both in Indianapolis), a 5K (University of Illinois quad), and an 8K cross country race with hurdles (Hudson, IL). I'd like to do well in all of them. PRs? Probably not. I'm older and personal bests are almost out of reach. I'm ready to commit to solid training for these shorter distance events and I think they'll go well. Train well, race well? Time will tell.

NOTE: I love the Howl at the Moon race. I need to volunteer and maybe pace another runner in the future. Too good of an event not to experience.