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Where I Was the Rest of 2014...

Oops.  I haven't posted since October?  Like all of us, the holidays were pretty hectic, and then I took this stupid MySQL online class during some of the heaviest training weeks of the year.  I had to let something slip during that time, so it ended up being this.  Then I had a few weekends of races and now, things will be kinda sorta quiet...  until March.

Since the sprint triathlon, my major races in 2014 included the Rock n' Roll Las Vegas half marathon, the Thanksgiving Tryptophun Rhun 6 hour race, the Desert Classic 30k, and Across the Years (24 hours).

I didn't post the Vegas race in my "upcoming races" at the time because I have a weird thing about strangers knowing when I'm not at home...  It was my first Rock n' Roll event ever.  My best friend was in Vegas for some work conference and I met her there, along with her cousin-in-law.  It was fun, but packed, as I understand most Rock n' Roll events tend to be; and unexpectedly cold!  I didn't PR or anything like I had hoped (2:13:43) but I'm not sure it would have been possible to navigate through that many people anyway.

At Tryptophun I completed 21.35 miles in a little over 5 hours, but it was taking me a little over an hour to complete the 4+ mile loop at that stage of the game.  I decided to stop short of the full 6 hours, my knees were killing me from the downhills.  It was a very small (I placed 13th overall!) but well-organized race.

The Desert Classic 30k...  I never seem to do very well at this race, at least compared to the field of competitors.  For whatever reason, it attracts a lot of very fast distance runners.  Most people use it as a training run (such as myself) for marathons they are training for taking place in January/February - it is nice to have the aid station support, and the company, for a "training" run of that distance.  I felt a lot better at this race than I did when I raced it in 2013, and I PRed for that distance although I'm unsure of the actual amount.  The website calculated pace times based on 18.1 miles in 2013 rather than the true 18.6 miles (30k) we ran in 2014.  I finished in 3:23:22, or a pace of 10:55 (yay!).  In 2013 they have my results as 3:23:26 but a pace of 11:14 so...  I'm telling people I improved my pace by 19 seconds.  Ha!

December 28, 2014 was the first time I attempted Across the Years.  This seems to be a very popular race with the local runners I know, but also seems to draw people from all around the world to compete in 24 hr to 6 day events.  I went with the smallest denomination (24 hours), the format being to complete as many ~1 mile laps around the course as possible.  The date of the race happened to coincide with the last long run prior to tapering for the PF Chang's full marathon, so I found it best to go to ATY and finish this long run with a bunch of friends and acquaintances rather than going it alone on the streets of El Mirage.  I managed to get 50k in about 8.5 hours, at which point my running comrade and I decided to bail instead of finishing out the 24 hour period.  I am not quite sure it is my kind of race, but knowing more about it now, I could make a genuine attempt at 50 miles next year if anyone wanted to talk me into it.

The following January I completed my third full marathon, PF Chang's Rock n' Roll Arizona.  I finished in 4:57:17 which makes it not my best marathon time but not my worst either.  I felt the most comfortable doing this one, if it's possible to make that statement.  I paced myself really well, but it just gets too darn hot in AZ if you're running for almost 5 hours like I am.  What made it really cool though was my friend Kelli came out with her daughters and boyfriend to cheer me on along the route.  She apparently had so much fun that she wants to do a full next year.  :)  Surf City 2016, here we come!

After PF Chang's, I took the rest of January off from the racing scene.  In February I had a smaller local school district 5k, the Runner's Den Pancake Run 10k (which I PRed at - finally less than an hour!), the IMS Arizona Half Marathon (which I PRed at - 2:07:10), and Ragnar Del Sol (we finished and we weren't last!).

Now if you remember, I didn't care for Ragnar last year and didn't really want to do it again this year, but all of my friends seemed to want to do it, so I went in thinking I can at least show them how annoying this race was.  And you know what ended up happening?  I ended up having a really great time.  Dammit.  I'm not so sure I want to rush out and be captain of a team again since that was kind of stressful, and I think I'm still recovering from lack of sleep - it hasn't even been a week yet.  Still, I guess if my friends really wanted to and I didn't have to do the 13.5 mile leg again, I could possibly be talked in to it.  Possibly.

Next up:  The Kiss Me I'm Irish 17k followed by the Vistancia Sprint Triathlon in March.  There is chatter about preparing for Ironman 2016.  I have avoided committing to that so far, but will use Vistancia as a litmus test.  


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