Jon's Jibber-jabber

Today I completed my 6th marathon and second Marine Corps Marathon.  Coming off of a hard tri season, I didn't set any goals or expectations for is race.  I have Space Coast Marathon coming up in a month and the MCM would be a check-in run.   This year's MCM was nearly derailed by the government shutdown.  Due to the use of federal lands that were closed, if the government had remained closed the race could not have been run.   Last time I did this race it was 32 degrees at the start, so I expected it to be cold. That said, race time temperature was 41 degrees.  It was just cool enough to know the race wouldn't heat up but not too cold that it was uncomfortable.  I started slow and probably back too far.  I was well behind the 4:30 pace group at the start and I knew it would get crowded.   It is self seed at the start so you could really start anywhere.  About mile one, I noticed that I had hit the wrong button on my w...

So I have been bad about posting recently. I have been busy at work and my wife and I took a two week vacation, complete with a Disney cruise.   Today I completed my first half Iron distance race.  It was supposed to be a 70 (70.3 with the swim shortened to represent the 70,000 young adults diagnosed with cancer each year).  They had to shorten the bike by three miles for this year due to construction on the bike course.  I've also heard it was to meet NCAA standards on the Olympic course, which shares portions with the half.   But 67 is close enough to 70.3.  And it's a unique distance. Last year's race day conditions featured a high of 52 with rain showers.  The race staff warned everyone to prepare for cold temps.  Then came this week with its August-like tendencies.   Swim: the swim was organized in waves with a time trial start in each wave.  Basically, two people entered every five seconds.  It was probably the best thing abou...