for some reason, i think it’s a good idea to run two half marathons two weeks apart (and bring liz and doug along for the ride). now, the good news with that is that you’re trained already, so it should be easy. and given the horrible weather we had for the half two weeks prior, anything would be a cakewalk.

so, i left central mn, where we’ve been waiting for spring for 84 years, and right around maple grove, suddenly everything was GREEN. unbelievable!!! what was this miracle? axial tilt for the win! it was so verdant that i stopped at the great river road information center in prescott WI so i could admire the greenage on the river.

the drawback to the granddad half is that it starts at 7 a.m. in a spot nowhere near the finish line. so you have to be at the shuttle pickup at 5:45 a.m. what a racket! we made it there, coffee in hand, and headed to the start line, an unnervingly long distance from the finish.

as you can ascertain, the weather was much more pleasant.

and our pace started off great! we had a great first 7 miles. the incline was downhill and flat-ish, and we ran on a gravel path next to a train track through some very scenic marshland. heard some frogs, saw some green stuff, got passed by some very fast marathoners. (marathoners started an hour before we did.)

then quinn started having some knee and hip issues, and we ended up stopping and stretching and walking for a lot of the second half, which was ok because we made such great time in the first half that our final time was still under three hours (always the goal). also, it let me take a pause to smell some LILACS THAT WERE ALREADY IN BLOOM!!!!

overall, the weather was much better, but it was very muggy. and given how much i like to sweat, i ended up having soaked-through shorts by mile 4. how fashionable.

after we finished up, we got our free beers and headed home as fast as possible so liz and doug could get craig to his soccer game. hannah stayed home with me while i took a shower and a short nap, then we met up with everyone to eat some food and a bloody mary (a tradition now).

i left about 2:15ish then stopped at my parents’ house AND jane’s house to say hi on my way home.

overall, race was good. liz and i thought from here on out we will only run 10k races, but i think we both know that isn’t true and we’ll likely sign up for another half next year. who knows what will happen!

an item of note: i’m going to knock on wood for this one, but my muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, etc. have all be really good this year, and i hope they hold up. i don’t know what i’ve been doing, but i’ll keep on doing it.