(fuck) The Half Marathon

The half-marathon is a tough race. Requires endurance, but also speed. It's a real test of stamina. To run well, you must be able to maintain a fast pace (just under lactate threshold) for the full 13.1 miles. Not easy. It doesn't have the intense pain and burn of a 5K, nor the "kick through the wall" challenge of the full marathon. Lately I've chosen this race distance to keep me trained (sorta) for marathons and ultras, but also to develop speed. It sucks. I want to say "Fuck the half-marathon!" Please, just give me the quick suffering within a short 5K. Or the very slow burn of a 50K. The half requires too many skills. Pacing, speed, endurance, stamina, fluids. I can't focus on so many things that long. Give me one task and I'll likely succeed--run super fast for 3 miles. Yep. Run slow for 31 miles. Done.

I have my first half-marathon test on October 6. Then a re-test on November 3. Both are in Indianapolis. I ran both races last year and they both kicked my ass. I was ill-trained for the first race and injured for the second. This year I'm "kinda trained" for the first and hopefully ready for the second. This may be my last attempt at this distance for a long time. Feel like I need to move back to ultramarathons. I want a different, but familiar, challenge. Does that make sense? I've finished over 100 ultras/marathons, but none recently. I pride myself on being an "ultra guy" so I should do ultras. Right? Who knows. What I do know, is that half-marathons suck. Fuck them all!