Allerton Trail Half-Marathon: 20 Minutes Slower!

I'm behind superman. 

Last weekend I ran the Allerton trail half-marathon. It's a nice trail race close to home. It's also a good test heading into "racing season." Any earlier race tends to be cold or too early in the season to get in good training. It's also very reasonably priced--something like $35 for early registrants! Given all of these facts, I tend to run it every year. This year, I didn't have any racing or training partners so I was a little less motivated. And not accountable to anyone. My training suffered. Plus, I entered the year after 2 months of plantar fasciitis. Then I was hit hit COVID in early January! After recovering and getting back to OK training, I came down with a nasty cold that turned into acute bronchitis. I knew the race wasn't going to go well...my longest run of the year was less than 5 miles. Not good for endurance. Had too many breaks in my running. So, how did it go?

I finished the race. That was my main goal. And I didn't get injured. But it was slow. My finish time was 2:17. One of my slowest half-marathons ever and 20+ minutes slower than last year at this same race (1:56)! Let me say that again, I was 20 minutes slower at the same race compared to last year. Yikes. Race left me tired all day and very sore the next day. It felt like I had raced a full marathon! A week later I'm still not 100%, but am mostly recovered. Lesson learned--you need consistent running, without injuries and illness, to succeed in a race. And for long races, you need long training runs. Simple facts. 

Next race is the Kirby Derby 5K in 3 weeks. I won't be fast, but it'll be a good tempo run. Actually looking forward to some solid training and a test of my speed and stamina.