Mohican cancelled, got to run Park to Park

Last Saturday I was about 1 hour away from leaving for the Mohican 100 where I was to run the last 25 miles as Bob Pokorny's pacer when his daughter called and said he had to drop out. The day started here in Medina pouring all morning then it got hot and humid, Bob made it 37 miles or so but ran into a few issues with dehydration and heat. Now with no plans for Sunday I tried to register for the Park to Park half marathon that Marsha, Jeanine and Janet were running the next morning. It was to late to register so I called the guy in charge and left him a message that I would like to sign up for the next 2 half marathons, one tomorrow and one next Sunday, and on their web site if you sign up for 2 as a package you get a discount. He called back and told me to sign up for both at the race and I would get the discount, $55 for both races, pretty cheap for 2 halves. I went out without a warm up due to a long line at the port a potty and planned to run a slow mile to get started but ended up with a 7:15 first mile and running with Tim in my age group, he had run Cleveland in 1:35 and we both said our goals were to break 1:40 today so we ran about 9-10 miles together before I lost track of him on the woozy bridges. Forgot to say that for a mid June race the temps were in the low 60's at start time and it was a bit chilly. I ran most of the last couple miles with next to no one around me and got to mile 12 which sent us back into the park we started at and on a gravel trail. It was cooler in the woods so I picked up the pace to see if I could catch anyone before the finish but didn't see a soul and couldn't believe when I finished in 1:36:11 that there were only 8 people in front of me. The race started with a bunch of half marathoners and a bunch of 5k ers in the twisty woods and I never knew where all the people went in front of me and had no idea how many were in front of me. My running buddy Tim ended up 3 minutes behind me but we took 1st and 2nd in our age group. After a short breather I ran back out to run Marsha in for a 1:53 then ran back out again to run Janet in for a 2:02. I placed 9th of 90 and Marsha was in the top half as I recall.

Ran an easy 4 miles before the MCRR meeting Monday night and listened to Milt Place talk about his running and training, a very interesting talk. Then went to speed work Tuesday but took it pretty easy with about 4 800's in the 3:20's. Taking the next couple days off for rest with the Matchstick 4 miler coming up Friday night and then the Columbia Station half Sunday morning. Running this one with Pete and Debbie Sheel, most likely trying to just break 1:40 on this hilly course.