Most likely my final post for 2011 considering my dedication to this blog these past few months so I’ll recap what I can.
Riding home after spending Christmas up north (Kristin’s driving, I’m letting her). It’s always fun up there with family, but there’s always something missing when I don’t have my boys. They’re with Lindsay this year. Arrived Friday evening, had burgers at the VFW and then proceeded to eat all weekend. Definite post-holiday purge is in order! Sunday was the fun day with gift opening, de-decorating and the annual bonfire. Everyone celebrates Christmas by packing up all the decorations and taking down their tree, right? In years past the bonfire has been more of a New Year’s Eve bonfire, but with Mom and Dad wintering in AZ now they take off shortly after Christmas so they can arrive in AZ as close to Jan. 1st as possible. Can’t blame ‘em for that!

Prior to this I finished up my athletic year with a marathon in Huntsville, AL. Went into it with lofty, but unknown expectations. With all the training I did this past year I definitely wanted to PR (4:07 or faster) and would’ve been disappointed had I not. Beyond that I wasn’t sure what sort of time I would get. I’ve never gone sub-4:00 so despite my good training year I didn’t know how realistic that was for me. My training lately had been in the 8:10/mile range which equates to about a 3:35 marathon, but I didn’t know if I’d be able to sustain that over 26 miles. My next goal level was 3:45ish and then if everything went perfectly and the stars aligned I thought maybe a 3:30ish was doable.
Arrived in AL and got settled at my hotel, hit the small expo and went to dinner. The weather prediction was for a cool start (low 30s) and warming into the upper 40s, but windy. The big dilemma at the start was if it would be warm enough to just run in shorts of if I would have to wear my tights. It was 33 so it got a little nippy, but I figured I was there to “race” it and shorts would provide the best results there. Bared the legs and took off!
I started with the 3:45 pacer and stuck with him for the first mile. The 3:40 pacer started a little further back (Alabama math?) so I latched onto him once he caught up at that first mile. Got warmed up over the next couple of miles and was feeling good. At mile 3 I told myself to just run my race, but remember that I was “racing” so I slowly sped up and separated from that pacer. I was hitting my watch every mile and was consistently in the 8:03-8:09 range. Gradually I started reeling in the 3:35 pacer and caught them at mile 10. Stayed stride for stride with that group, but once we turned into the wind at mile 16 I ended up dropping. I couldn’t sustain it and with no one to draft with/off of I slowly started to fade. I maintained 8:30ish/mile for the next few, but then around mile 19 McBlister made its presence known on the ball of my foot. The final 7 miles became more of a struggle dealing with that, altering my stride, but by then I knew I was going to at a very minimum PR and go sub-4, it was just a matter of how much under I could get.
With about a mile and half left the 3:45 pacer passed me back and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Damn it, wasn’t going to hit that mark. Settled into a pace I could maintain the rest of the way, as much as my blister allowed, and trudged across the line at 3:49. Pretty happy with the overall time, but not ecstatic. I knew I left a few minutes out there and even with it being a PR knew it wasn’t my “perfect race”. I guess that’s part of what keeps me coming back.
Alabama was state #11 (#14 marathon overall) and a PR at 43 years old. Can’t complain too much and feel blessed that I’m physically able to continue to do this!

So, in recap, all the training this year paid off. Even though the times below didn’t win me any age-group awards, I’m just happy it shows that I can still improve at my advanced age.

May: PR ½ marathon 1:48
June: PR Olympic distance tri 2:33
July: PR ½ Iron distance tri 5:10 and PR the ½ marathon run portion 1:46
September: Finished (and PRed cuz it’s my first) the Ironman 13:32
December: PR full marathon 3:49
Remainder of 2011: recover from a mentally draining training year, as much as physically.

Up next, Nashville in April. Should be a fun with a fun group of people going (11 as of now). I’ll try to post more often and before that though. Happy New Year, Everyone!

Not Tits for Tat

So, I'm 2 months into the whole internet dating thing. I've had a few dates, but nothing solid yet. A few more emails with others, but nothing that's moved beyond that. Some my decision, some theirs. The thing that's confusing me the most though is the lack of response when I contact someone. Now, I'm not saying the lady needs to drop what she's doing, write me a novel and hand deliver it, especially if she isn't interested, but to me it just seems like common courtesy to at least acknowledge that you received my wink/email. No response just seems mean. You're online dating, you know winks and emails are how people first connect. Not responding is akin to if you were physically face to face with someone, they tried to start a conversation with you or asked you out for a drink/date and you just stood there staring at them and then walked away without saying a word. Match even has a feature where you only have to click 1 button and they'll send a form letter email declining the invitation. How simple is that? If someone initiates contact with me, first, I'm flattered; second, if I'm interested I'm going to let them know sooner rather than later; third, if I'm not interested I'm still going to thank them for the interest, but let them know. They took the chance, stuck their neck out. The least I can do is say thanks, but no thanks and not leave them hanging there. That's just me though. I actually think more highly of those women who respond with a decline than I do of those who don't respond at all. I'd be interested in hearing why women don't respond. Is there a good reason why? I'm not going to cyberstalk you or try to talk you into rethinking your position.
Okay, enough of that rant.
The one lady I saw multiple times started out great. We saw each other on a Saturday night, found out both our birthdays were coming up that following week so we took each other out for birthday lunches and were both genuinely interested in seeing each other again. 3 dates in 6 days with interest for more! Things are looking promising, right?! Well, it turned out I had my hunting weekend, then came home and had a couple of social functions (non-dates), scouts and watched the kids on one of my non-scheduled nights and she didn't take too kindly to me only providing her with 1 night to see each other in a 2 week period. She actually said she felt "insulted" and accused me of seeing multiple women! I laughed at that (it was in an email, not to her face)! In her defense, she doesn't have kids so she probably isn't the most tuned in to the schedule of a single parent. I can't stop being a parent just to appease someone I'm first getting to know. Maybe if/when a relationship starts getting serious I'll be more inclined to accommodate schedule changes, but not within the first week lady! It was good to find that out early I guess, save some headache later!
On to the next, whenever that may be. I'm keeping my parameters somewhat strict. I don't want to date just to date. There actually is a long-term purpose behind this courtship thing so I want to reel in a keeper. Just gotta keep casting.

My exercise year is finally winding down. I'm heading out in the morning to Alabama to run the Rocket City Marathon! This will be state #11. When I picked this one out and signed up back in October I was pretty excited. I have to admit now though, I'm actually more looking forward to it being over and just getting home than I am about traveling and doing another marathon. Usually I get pretty excited about them. I've spent the whole year training though and I need the mental break more than anything, more than physically even. I just need to step back and not be dictated by my workout schedule. It'll be nice to not worry about that for a few weeks. I'm not retiring by any means, just will enjoy the off season.
With that said, I'm not going to lolly gag my way through this one just to get it over with. I'm actually hoping to do well and I'll be disappointed if I don't PR and break 4hrs. I haven't done that yet. All the training this year will hopefully pay off this one last time and I'll be able to enjoy the off season that much more.

With that said, logging off so I can throw everything in my bag and get to bed. My chauffeur is gonna be here (not quite) bright and early to take me to the airport. Good night and let's hope AL becomes my new favorite state!