Right now my sole focus is on the half ironman I have coming up in May, so it means right now I am only doing races for fun and to fit into my training cycles as long runs.  I might try and pr on a half in February because I really liked the race last year but I have been choosing races I could run for fun and not race.  I am doing my first trail race next week the Mayan end of Days 12.21 race, in January I am pacing the 2 hour group at the STG half, and then in March I am pacing the 2:10 group at Zion National park half.  The hostess half fell in with those other races as this is the race you have to eat a cookie, a cupcake, a moon pie or a donut at every aid station.  Last year it was the Hostess half but it seems the RD a local who just puts the race on for fun didn't stock up on the twinkies before they went out of business.

I thought it might be funny to try and run sub 2 at the half stopping to eat at every aid station but I threw that goal out the morning of the race.  It was raining all day Friday and Saturday and there was some dirt sections on the race and one very muddy section so I didn't know how well that would turn out.  And then my legs felt like butter the morning of the race (I did bricks both Wednesday and Thursday).  So just go have fun and treat the race like a long run became my goal somewhere I figured in the 2:05-2:10 range.

Its also been a very rough week for me and running has been one solace to get my mind off things as we have found out that the cancer has come back on my sister and she is now terminal as the tumor is now wrapped around the nerves and its inoperable.  So just going to have fun and get your mind off things sounded great.

I did set one goal for myself I wanted to eat more than last year as last year I ate 5 things, this year I wanted to eat 6

With it being raining and miserable I didn't want to get there too early I actually showed up 5 minutes before the start of the race and missed the big group photo.  I didn't even have breakfast figured I'd fill up on sugary goodness haha.  My friend was running the race and he was going for the award of seeing who could eat the most (he ate 22 makes me want to puke just thinking about it and the winner actually ate 30).  We lined up and got some final instructions about the sugar shack and the mud track sections.

The race was 4 3.25 mile loops and then the sprint to the finish.  It was actually a very nice course and I really liked the course, mostly flat with only 2 short uphills, if it hadn't been for the two dirt tracks that were muddy I would have called it the perfect course (they did have a 5k this year too).  I started running with my friends father in law and we ran the first loop together.  I began by wearing my hoodie with the conditions but found I got way to hot after even just a mile so ended up carrying it the rest of first loop after the first water station.  They had a water station one mile in and it was a great place for one because after the treats and running for mile man you want some water.

Run the first loop and man can I feel it in my legs but still not a bad loop we do it on a nice 9:45 pace.  Stop for my first sugary goodness (you stop at the sugar shack 3 times, I figured I would do 1 the first time, 2 the second time and 3 the third time that will get me to my 6 and that way I don't have to have a ton sitting in my stomach early on in the race).  Hand my hoodie to a volunteer and grab what I thought was a vanilla frosted cookie.  Turns out it was a vanilla frosted cupcake and I find myself eating the paper haha.  Ok man does that frosting stick in your throat.  So the water station is a much invited man get this sugar frosting out of my throat.  My legs actually start to fill a little better during this loop.  I have found with the all the bricks I do (I do 1-2 bricks a week right now) that I actually seem to get stronger as a run goes of late..  I lost my friends father in law at the sugar shack as he stopped to drop his wind breaker off in his car so I ended up running this loop by myself.

My friend who is a little faster than me finished the first loop before I did and was leaving the sugar shack when I came in.  The second loop and the second sugar shack he is still eating and I ended up leaving before he did (with all his eating I actually ended up beating him by like 30 minutes as he was spending 10-15 minutes each time at the sugar shack).  I decide I would try one of the unfrosted  cookies this time and a chocolate frosted cookie.  The unfrosted cookie was pretty easy but man stay away from that frosting.  I swear I was spitting chocolate for the next 4 miles.

On my third lap I start running next to a guy and we begin talking.  I guess he used to work with my wife and had lost 110 pounds and was joining the army in March.  His hip was hurting so I gave him some tips on what I did when I lost all the weight as I also had a hip imbalance when my pelvis was realigning from the weight loss.  This was only his second race, he did the marathon back in October but that was it.  I ended up pacing him for the last 6 miles of the race and he thanked me afterwords because he said it made it a lot easier for him to finish as he had been struggling before that (I guess he finished the first 2 laps way before me).  I really didn't mind and it was nice to help someone out and pace them as that is all I am really doing the next few races is pacing plus I was treating this race like a long fun run with donuts.

The third trip to the sugar shack I decided to go for the donuts and man were those the easiest thing to eat no sugar coating your throat.  I had 3 of them haha  My running partner left a little before me because I ate 3 and he ate only one.  But I caught up with my shortly.  I could have easily sped up any of those last 2 loops as my legs felt better each and every single loop.  I actually felt way better the 4th loop then I did the first loop but I figured I would rather help this guy out then try and take off so I just kept that nice even 9;40 pace.  I did tell him we needed to take off the last quarter mile after the last mud track and finish strong and he sprinted out in front of me and I tucked in behind him and finished like 2 seconds off.

Race ended being 2:06:21 slower than last year but I ate more plus I could have sped up had I wanted too but it was a nice fun diversion and I really like pacing my running partner.  It leaves a couple questions for me though man my legs felt fantastic after the race I could have easily gone out and done one or two more loops faster than any loop I had done up until that point.  I am not sure if its all the bricks I have been doing where my legs are used to not doing a run until I have done a 9-10 mile or longer bike ride but I was amazed at how good I felt after the race.  I have never felt this good after a race like ok lets go run another 10 miles after feeling so crappy the first loop of the race.  Which makes me wonder if I am now going to have to a LTH kind of warmup before halves to get my legs warmed up now or maybe it was just that one oddity of a race I guess time will tell.

Ok a couple of photos

Early on in the race as I still got my hoodie on (black hoodie with the STG marathon logo)

Later on in the race I look like a wet strangled rat but got a huge smile on my face for some reason and either frost or sugar in my beard haha (I hate photos like this sometimes because you can see all the excess skin poking through my shirt but I got a huge smile on my face so I must have been having fun)

And before I found my running partner when I was still very focused haha  I am thinking end of the second loop as I am not carrying my hoodie and just after the mud track I think as this was the hard packed dirt area that wasn't too bad

I discovered something today, its easier to run with cookies than with spicy fajitas in ones stomach.  I made my spicy game day fajitas for lunch today then went for a 9 mile run and when you burp it kind of burns haha

Not sure if I could have even finished one lap after eating one of those things. Can you race it without partaking in the sweets and have them afterward? That is what I would have opted for.

BTW, we have tons of Twinkies left up here in Canada if you want to get some. 

I am very sorry about the news about  your sister. 

I am so very sorry to hear about your sister, Dizzy.  I really am.  I can't imagine. 

As far as your race goes, I would have thrown up if I ate half of what you did in that race!  Yuck!  Nice job on finishing the race and with a very solid time to boot, considering you weren't actually racing the darn thing.  Now, I have to go look up what a brick is...

I went back to the pictures after reading Awood_runner's comment about the arms.  In the first picture, you look totally focused on the girl in pink, like she has a target on her back.  The guy next to you in the black hat is saying "Dude, give it up.  You'll never catch her."

I went back to the pictures after reading Awood_runner's comment about the arms.  In the first picture, you look totally focused on the girl in pink, like she has a target on her back.  The guy next to you in the black hat is saying "Dude, give it up.  You'll never catch her."