Running and Laughing through the Golden State
Running and Laughing through the Golden State
The Heroes to Hero 5k is one of my favorite 5ks of the year. It’s weird to say that now that I’ve moved away from New Jersey, I guess. At the group run at RunningCo. of Haddonfield last week, I found out the Heroes to Hero 5k was the same weekend I was in town. I knew I was going to run anyway over the weekend, so I decided…why not.
I love J&A Races; in fact, the Crawlin Crab Half Marathon is one of my favorite half marathons in general. It’s fun, flat, and unless it’s hot and humid, it’s fast.
The nice thing about blogging is I can look back and see what I’ve run in previous years, including a 1:30.02 and 1:32.29 (LOL). My goal beforehand was to run around 1:28. When I arrived on race day and determined how I felt, I knew that would not be an option. Sometimes you feel bad but run fast. Sometimes you feel bad and run bad. Sunday was the latter.
Another month, another blog about training. For most people, it felt like September flew by, probably unless you’re a teacher. For me, it felt as though it flew by, and I was excited for more races.
Before the pandemic, I tried to race most weekends. I would do a half once a month and then the rest of the time something shorter. Now that races are back, I’m having fun exploring new races each weekend around me. Living in the desert, most races are about 2 hours away, but it’s fun to explore new areas of California.
I can’t seem to catch a break, and the San Francisco Half Marathon with another race that ended up being long. Not because my GPS told me I ran long, but because the lead biker directed the wrong way, which added roughly .2-.3 to the race. I had a great time at the San Francisco Half Marathon and it was my fastest time in nearly three years; I just wish the time reflected that. Ultimately we weren’t directed the wrong way, I would have run somewhere around 1:29.30. It was still a much better and faster effort than my half marathon in San Diego last month.
I decided to drive down and run the Santa Monica Classic 10k. With a few races popping up, I like to use them as excuses for a vacation. Driving 90 minutes is hardly long enough to classify as a vacation, but Santa Monica and Edwards, CA seem like different worlds. Which…they are.