Plans had been made, babysitters had been arranged, and I had been looking forward to running the Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon (part of Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN) since last June. Unfortunately the lottery system was not in our favor, f-bomb.
Conspiracy theory alert: If you pay to have the race packet shipped to you – then you get in! Huh? This is not based on fact and as far as I know is not true, but it sounds plausible. The best thing about conspiracy theories is they take random events and give you somebody to blame for them. Not being selected in the race lottery goes from bad luck to a plot by evil race organizers that charge a lot for the “handling” portion of shipping and handling. I mean come on why would I pay you to ship my packet? What conspiracy theories do not do, is get you into your race.
So it was back to the drawing board, I need a Half Marathon for June. My wife and friends (not named here to protect them from the rath of the Gary Bjorkland race directors that now know I am onto them) need a reason to get out-of-town for the weekend and a race to train for. Enter The Sour Grapes half Marathon in Brainerd, MN. Here is an excerpt from their website:
“The Sour Grapes half & half run first started in 2001. A group of runners were unable to secure a spot in the Grandma’s Marathon for that year. As a result, they decided to organize a run that would be fun, challenging and a means to enjoy the company of other enthusiastic runners; hence, the birth of Sour Grapes half & half.”
Hey that sounds perfect! Did I mention each finisher gets “a unique finisher token” and it costs $45 less than Bjorkland? Where do I sign up?
Right here actually: http://www.sourgrapesrun.com/
So it is almost spring, which means rain melting snow, slippery roads and sidewalks covered in puddles. I love it. The extra daylight plus temps around or above freezing make running seem easier. Plus other runners and bicyclist out and about in my neighborhood, which always help keep me going. I got in 6 miles yesterday morning ahead of the rain that fell for most of the day. Even before the rain I ended up running down the middle of some side streets to avoid the icy, very cold puddles that were taking over the sides of the street.
I spent most of the run trying to decide if I should upgrade to the new Brooks Trance 12, I love buying running stuff – that should be its own blog soon, I determined I could muddle through the rainy season with the Trance 11’s I already have (dear wife, look at the sacrifices I make for our family. Your welcome). I also thought through what I want to accomplish at the Get Lucky Half Marathon next week. I had been looking at slowly building up to the Grandma’s Half Marathon in June but as outlined above that isn’t happening, seriously I am totally over not getting picked. I did not come to a conclusion before my six miles were up and I was confronted with a one year old that wanted to hang out with me at home. Fortunately, I have two more runs this week to decide if I am trying to push my pace or keep building toward a fast run in the coming months. Hopefully there will be some dry pavement this week, I would hate to ruin my shoes 🙂
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