It's that time again...

Tomorrow afternoon we're headed up to Ft. Collins (about one hour north of Denver) for Sunday morning's Colorado marathon. I'm running the half marathon...it's my first half since October's marathon. I've kept up about 30 miles of running per week although in the last month or so I have been struggling with some lower back issues. Finally I'm feeling a lot better.

It will be exciting to see if I got any faster...I've been pushing my pace more this year. Here's evidence...this is my Garmin from the two mile time trial we do. The number by my finger is the average pace per mile. My goal was to be under an 8 minute mile...which I did (7:55/mile pace). Last year I did the same exact time trial twice...the first time I averaged about 8:40 miles and the second 8:20s. We'll see what that translates to on Sunday.

Regardless of my half marathon time this weekend it will be a fun time for the family. We're headed up Saturday afternoon and meeting up with some running buddies (a few who have kids) for a pasta dinner. On Sunday morning I take a bus that shuttles all the runners to the start (at a ridiculously early time in the morning) but the finish is right by our hotel so Jon and the kids can meander out after a leisurely breakfast.

Staying on the running theme, this week was the lottery for the New York Marathon. It's crazy hard to get into although you get in automatically on the 4th year. I had plans to run the Twin Cities Marathon later this year so I wasn't too disappointed not to get in. Next year I'm planning to run New York...if I don't get in by lottery than I may get a charity spot where you agree to raise a certain amount of money in exchange for automatic entry. Anyone out there want to join me in NY next year?