Jon's Jibber-jabber

I am going to call this the Grumpy Half Marathon in honor of my spirit Disney character, Grumpy the Dwarf.  In truth, Donald Duck is the character Disney chose to mascot this race, but Grumpy is better.  Though, Donald is quite angry at times too.  My mood for the race was grumpy.  I've run the half marathon before several times, albeit the last time was 2012.  I was really looking forward to this race, but the fates would not shine so brightly on me.   Race Week This was truly a racecation.  We had a whole week in Florida prior to the event.  Originally, I was going down for the weekend.   My wife was able to get off and extend for the whole week, so we decided to take a road trip.  We started off a whole week prior from Maryland and drove to Hilton Head Island.  We stayed for one night at the Disney Vacation Club resort there (which was very nice, and we'd never been).  The next day we drove to Orlando and stayed with friends.  The rest of the week was spent based out of S

This is a very very late race report but I went through a period of a funk where I didn't do anything so I'm just getting back the energy to write these again.  I have about twenty posts just sitting in various stages of progress.  Oh well, here's the report.  I hadn't been feeling well for a few months in general.  Even now almost a year after this race, I still am not quite sure what is off but I'm doing much better.   There were very few expectations in the race just to see what I could do.  It was a 10k that I should be able to pull off even not training specifically for it.  The race is a nice course starting in downtown St. Pete near the Mahaffey Theatre and Dali Museum.  It runs basically out toward Tropicana Field and then back.  While there is a little rise of a few feet outward, the course is flat.  There is also a lap inside Tropicana Field on the warning track of the baseball field, so that is an added bonus.  I went out at my pace and kept to myse

This is also known as the Hell of Frederick....I just made that up myself but it's astonishingly accurate.  I wanted a challenge and that is what I got.  I registered for this after moving back north.  I spend many days in Frederick during my college years and after, working at two theatre companies located downtown.  I would be nice to be in familiar territory for such a challenge.  It is only an hour from me.  That close, I decided to drive up in the morning.  I think that was a good idea, sleeping in my own bed the night before.  The ride starts in Frederick's beautiful downtown.  Frederick is such a quintessential northeastern American town with red brick houses and church spires everywhere.  Small tree lined streets flow in a grid that lead from quaint crossing to crossing of a small stream.  From there, the route headed west toward the Catoctin Mountains.  This is where it lost the charm.  Within the first five miles, we were climbing.  Not just any climb, no this was H

Opening up this year's triathlon season (and closing out said season) was the Baltimore Triathlon.  Due to my move, some health issues, and loads of other factors, I focused mainly on cycling and base building this year.  No time for triathlon...until now.  As they say, better late than never.  This is my second time participating in this race.  Last time, I easily won my age group in the Olympic division, mostly due to my ability to adapt to pouring rain, floating driftwood, and cold temperatures.  I always perform better in adverse conditions.  That year it was an inaugural event and I was just off of an Ironman training cycle.  This time would be different, but I felt confident that I could put in a good race.  I only needed to get through the swim, which is nearly absent from my training this year.  And so began my first and last triathlon of the season. Race Week Race week was pretty chill as I didn't have to prepare much for the race.  I needed a small taper, whic

The Clermont Clay 5k and 15k take place on the Clermont Clay Loop, a roughly 10-plus mile series of clay roads through some central Florida groves and fields.  This is likely the last time that the race will include the full 15k of clay since some of it is slated to be paved for development.  I wasn't feeling up to the 15k so I decided to sign up for the 5k. It is a long way to Clermont from Tampa.  A small group of us carpooled up for almost hour and a half drive.  There was race day packet pickup so we wanted to leave enough time for that, parking, and warming up.  It was in the upper 50s with very low humidity.  Overall a chilly day for central Florida.  I was able to do a quick warm up and went out to run my own race. The race went pretty well.  It was a small field but the weather was perfect.  The route is just out and back along the clay road.  There are several rolling hills.  I found myself in the top 10 all race, finishing 7th overall.   I was one of the top one or tw

Over the past few months, I've done a some spur-of-the-moment running races.  I enjoy running short races.  First off, they do not break the bank.  I can't really afford the veritable "marathon" of marathons since many have entry fees at the top end of my budget.  Second, local races are great for racing with friends.  You can decide to just go do it and visit with friends.  It is how we used to run when we first started out.  So over the last few months, I did some local racing.  Here is a little recap. Fort Hamer Bridge 5K/10K (Parrish, FL) This event is in the 2nd year and literally runs across a bridge and back (for the 5K).  There is a 10K option but I opted for the 5K.  The race originally started at 7:30a but due to some parking issues it was delayed to 8a.  The bridge is not a high bridge but it does have elevation (for Florida).  The Ft Hamer park is a rowing center so it has space and organizers had a fair amount of local vendors there in the "