What’s next?
Well, the Granite Grinder half-marathon is in the bag. It was a muddy, dirty, rocky, root ridden tough course, but I’m not sure if the layoff since the ING Georgia half-marathon contributed to the feeling that it was tough or if it was legitimately a tough course. My finish time was 1:52 and some change (~17 minutes slower than ING), which I think put me towards the front of the pack, but still a good bit behind the leaders. Though I was suffering the last 5K or so, I still had a pretty good time. I’m not so used to jumping creeks, dodging fallen trees and trudging through mud during the course of a run which certainly made it entertaining. The worst part for me was running across the granite sections, where my trusty 992’s were telling my why I really should invest in some trail shoes.
There’s one more 15K trail race in June I sort of have my eye on, after which I think I’m going to be forced to layoff the distance running/racing for a while since the new baby should be arriving shortly there after. I’m really leaning more towards getting in the “gym” (basement) and hitting the weights more consistently followed by intervals on lifting days. My biggest issue is I really need to start focusing on what I eat more. I think we all know it isn’t possible to out exercise a bad diet and I’ve been slowly slipping back into some bad habits, and though I’m not really paying for it on the scale yet, it feels like a slippery slope that could take me back to where I was a year ago (35-40lbs heavier).