Sometimes the glass is half empty. Sometimes it’s half full. Of course, if you’re me, it doesn’t really matter, because somebody always knocks it over. Yesterday was no exception, but fortunately the cup had a lid on it!
I got an email yesterday morning letting me know the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon, which I’m scheduled to run on Saturday, was postponed until February 6 because torrential rains have made the course (a dirt fire road) dangerous. For almost any other race on my schedule, this would probably be a pretty big problem.
If it was a race I was traveling out of state to, I’d be eating worthless airfare. If I didn’t have a double this weekend, I’d be scrambling to find a race. And if I was going out of town the weekend of February 6, I’d be looking for something else to keep me from dropping to 59 marathons this year.
Lucky for me, though, the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon is 70 miles from home, something I drive to on the morning of the race. And I’m running the Carlsbad Marathon on Sunday, so I still get a race in this weekend. And on February 7, I’m running the Surf City Marathon 25 miles from home. So Diamond Valley is no problem on February 6.
In fact, this almost works out better. I’ll be just as fresh for Diamond Valley on February 6 as I would have been this Saturday. But I’ll certainly be in better shape for Carlsbad this Sunday. For Surf City, I’m leading the 3:30 pace group, which won’t be any trouble for me, not even the day after a marathon. My legs are slowly but surely getting used to this week-in, week-out routine and they’ll handle a double a little better in a couple of weeks.
From a running standpoint, this really worked out well, and hopefully this gets one of the inevitable hiccups out of the way early and painlessly. But another cool thing about this is how this impacts me from a non-running standpoint.
I’m being recognized as one of the Carlsbad Marathon’s “Heroes of the Marathon” on Friday night at a dinner. I won’t see the kids Friday night. I would have had to get up on about six hours of sleep, run Diamond Valley without seeing them until Saturday afternoon, then run Carlsbad on six hours of sleep the next day.
Instead, I get to go to the dinner with my bride on Friday night, then sleep in (well, until the kids wake me up at 7) and catch up on some rest on Saturday. For what a race postponement could have done to Operation Jack, this actually worked out pretty well.
Coming Soon, Zensah Compression Pants!
My legs have gotten a little twitchy on my flights back, but I have help coming soon from the good folks at Zensah. They were nice enough to ship me some compression pants and I’m looking forward to wearing them underneath my basketball pants on the way back from Miami next weekend. I’ve heard from several people that compression pants will help me big-time if I wear them after a race.
I think they help your body keep all your blood from flowing to your legs, or something like that. I don’t know … I failed biology three times in junior high school and high school. Science isn’t my thing. But whatever the case, I’m really looking forward to giving them a try.
Anybody Running The Napa Valley Marathon March 7?
The Napa race director is very supportive of Operation Jack and is offering a rate of $85 for the full marathon (current rate is $130) for anybody I bring on the Operation Jack team. If you want to run Napa, and you haven’t registered, here’s all I ask: Try to do a 10×10. The way I see it, if he’s being supportive and offering a $45 discount to help Operation Jack, I want to respect his generosity and not just give away the discounts like candy. Try to support this cause, which he believes in, and run Napa at a discount! If you’re interested, send me an email!
Ice Cream Update
I’m now at 92 consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt after my typical peanut butter fudge swirl last night. That’s just 18 days short of my personal best, a 110-day streak last June through October. I’m not going to count my chickens before they hatch, but I have a pretty good feeling about setting a new personal record.
That’s All For Today!
And really, that’s all for this week. I’ll post a race report after Carlsbad on Sunday afternoon. I’m going all-out, as always, gunning for a Boston Qualifier (sub-3:16) and ideally I’m hoping my fitness is getting closer to the sub-3:10 neighborhood I like to live in.
Have a great weekend everybody!
Chris Fales says
You are going to love the Zensah gear. Have you run with their compression leg sleeves yet?
Jen Morgan says
That def worked out for you! Yay!
I love Zensah products and I love me some compression socks so I bet the pants will be AMAZING!
Good luck this weekend! Can’t wait to read all about it!
adair renning says
OK, I just have a silly question……since you already have 2 BQs under your belt this year, if you get another, and another….could you concievably qualify for Boston for the next 58 years?
Ally Phillips says
I second what Jen said, the Zensah compression socks are awesome. I might occasionally wear them to work after a long/hard AM run. Maybe. I might. They’re lifesavers because I get really nasty calf cramps–and that’s just the socks! I’m sure the pants will be even better.
Glad the marathon schedule change will still work out for you. How are y’all holding up with all the rain??