PR

"I'll teach me", is the phrase that comes to mind :)

I was upset enough about what I felt was a poor performance in the mile on Sunday, that instead of awarding myself ice cream and the rest of the day off, I took myself out for a punishment run. Abby and a friend visiting us from England were doing some of the Boulder 360, which is a 20-mile (or so) "citizens" bike ride on some gorgeous trails round the city. My original plan was to ride with them; I decided to run.

Nov 4th marked marathon number 2 for me. My previous race, Rock and Roll Half San Jose was just three weeks prior, and a PR smashing performance. I remember feeling hyped, eager to run, curious to see if my newly gained speed would translate through 13.1 miles.

Hi all,

Race 6 was the Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Miler (my 5th marathon qualifier). We started on the East Drive at about 99th Street and completed the inner loop of Central Park. This race is segregated by gender, so the men ran at 8 and the women at 9. This made for an interesting start for the women, who had to line up in the same area where the men were finishing.

Goals: to keep running between water stations, to run 4 sub-9 miles, and to set a new PR (under 35:02). This was my first Lenten race. I've given up chocolate, caffeine (including Dr Pepper), and reading fiction; however, if I set a distance PR (course PRs don't count), then I can have chocolate on the race day, if it's a Sunday, or the first Sunday after the race. Last year, I only earned chocolate twice during Lent. Having just killed my 4-mile PR (should have planned that one out a little better, huh?), I'm going to work on it, but not expect any chocolates this year.

"Armageddon!"
The other guy desperately trying to warm up in the teeth of a freezing wind
had seen where we were looking: over at the Foothills, where the sky was so
black it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings.
"Is it coming this way?" we shouted back.

Ten minutes later we had our answer. It started snowing. Then it became a blizzard. Huddled together for warmth on the "beach" by one of Boyd Park's lakes, the 800 runners involved in the simultaneous 5k, 10k and Loveland half-marathon were screaming at the organizers to let us start before we froze.

People were breaking from the start line to get sweat pants and rain jackets from their cars. I was in two thermal vests; shorts yeah, but I'd taken the precaution of smothering my legs in 'warming' embrocation. But as the snow continued to pile up on our heads and shoulders, we decided we weren't going for sub-40 minutes as planned,