First Race of the Season

Today was my first running race of the season.

I say first because I have signed up for many many races this year already.  I have been very lucky in getting into race lotteries, or signing up on time for races, and not getting locked out.  As a result, I think I'm already planned for about 6 half marathons, 2 triathlons, and one cross-country run that frankly, scares me.

I went into this mornings race with low expectations, and just barely met them.  As I've said before, my weight is up, as is my pace.  Add to that a very hilly course, a little overdressing for the weather, and a series of issues I'm dealing with at work, and the result was a very slow 15K.

How slow?  Well, out of 216 runners, I was 201st.  Of the 42 Men in my age group, I was 40th, and 41 was running with his six year old son.  Yeah, that slow.  For the total run, I finished in just over 1:39, or a 10:37 per mile pace.  That's pretty on top of some recent long runs, but it's got to get better if I have any chance of beating my 70.3 time later this year.

The work thing is a big distraction, and my brain keeps cycling on it over and over.  I finally did speak up about it at work, but some other news keeps my head on only one topic.  I keep telling myself that once this issue is resolved (and it will be), I will get my life back to normal, and be able to train like I want to (including being able to focus better on my nutrition, which is really the culprit here)  Stress, lack of sleep, and slowing times have made my running a sense of pressure and pain, rather than the source of joy that it has been, and I want it to be again. 

For now, I'm noting that I did go out and run a 15K today, which is more than most people did this morning, and with work and hopefully some work relief, this year will turn out to be better than the last.