Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Flying Monkey Attack
My first marathon is done, and it nearly got the best of me.
The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is a beautiful, brutal race. Unfortunately, I went into it injured, and 26.2 miles of hills was more than I could run that day. I ended up running 10.2 miles and walking the last 16. That's a tedious way to finish, but it's still better than not finishing. And starting injured is better than not starting at all. My final time was 6:19:36, which was a disappointing 171st place out of 173 finishers.
Two weeks earlier, while running the Team Nashville Half Marathon I hurt my right knee about 5 miles in. I DNFed (did not finish) the race that day because I wanted to try to heal up before the Flying Monkey. Unfortunately, I didn't have quite enough time. Next year I hope to do better at both races.
Prior to November, I had a few decent races that I haven't blogged about. On September 29th I ran the Shelby Bottoms Boogie 15K in 1:18:46, which was my first 15K race. On October 14th I ran the Denver Half Marathon in 2:05:11, which was an acceptable time for me considering it was 34 degrees and raining the whole day. On October 20th I ran the Comdata Brentwood 10K in 50:50, which was a new 10K PR for me.
Right now, I'm recovering from the knee injury that flared up during the Flying Monkey. After it heals, I'm going back to focusing on form, speedwork, and trail running. I still care mostly about 5K and half-marathon times, but I'm going to try to get stronger before attempting next year's Flying Monkey. I'll probably do the Nashville Striders Marathon Training Series in the spring and fall, and I'll continue to do long runs in PWP. I'm also continuing my leg strengthing exercises so I won't have any more problems with my knees.
The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is a beautiful, brutal race. Unfortunately, I went into it injured, and 26.2 miles of hills was more than I could run that day. I ended up running 10.2 miles and walking the last 16. That's a tedious way to finish, but it's still better than not finishing. And starting injured is better than not starting at all. My final time was 6:19:36, which was a disappointing 171st place out of 173 finishers.
Two weeks earlier, while running the Team Nashville Half Marathon I hurt my right knee about 5 miles in. I DNFed (did not finish) the race that day because I wanted to try to heal up before the Flying Monkey. Unfortunately, I didn't have quite enough time. Next year I hope to do better at both races.
Prior to November, I had a few decent races that I haven't blogged about. On September 29th I ran the Shelby Bottoms Boogie 15K in 1:18:46, which was my first 15K race. On October 14th I ran the Denver Half Marathon in 2:05:11, which was an acceptable time for me considering it was 34 degrees and raining the whole day. On October 20th I ran the Comdata Brentwood 10K in 50:50, which was a new 10K PR for me.
Right now, I'm recovering from the knee injury that flared up during the Flying Monkey. After it heals, I'm going back to focusing on form, speedwork, and trail running. I still care mostly about 5K and half-marathon times, but I'm going to try to get stronger before attempting next year's Flying Monkey. I'll probably do the Nashville Striders Marathon Training Series in the spring and fall, and I'll continue to do long runs in PWP. I'm also continuing my leg strengthing exercises so I won't have any more problems with my knees.
Labels: Running
