Welcome to Race Linkup, a monthly linkup opening on the last Monday of every month and staying open for four weeks. Link your race schedule so everyone can see who else will be at the next race and we can arrange meet-ups with other bloggers and our readers. You can link up your race schedule every month or only when you register for an additional race – you choose how often you want to get your schedule out there for other runners to see. I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.

 

I’m super excited that persistence has paid off and my training has taken a positive turn with my speed finally coming back. After two back-to-back injuries in mid February and early March, I lost about two and a half minutes per mile off my easy run pace which lasted into the early summer.

On July 23rd I started my fall training cycle for my focus race, the Outer Banks Half Marathon in mid November. I’m using Run Less Run Faster (affiliate link) for my training plan, and love it. I enjoy the structure in my training, and who doesn’t love the opportunity to act like a badass rounding the track curves while trying to maintain a specific goal pace? These last couple of weeks I’ve been able to hit my goal paces on both my track workouts and my tempo runs, and I’m feeling really good about my race goal. I have high hopes of running a half marathon PR just in time for my sixtieth birthday.

 

As well as training has been going so far, things will change at 2:30 PM today… I’ve had a suspicious looking place just above my left knee for a couple of years and it’s following the exact same pattern that my previous two melanomas followed – starting out as a large irregular medium brown spot that eventually had another spot appear within its borders. Immediately after this one started changing, I had my dermatologist take a look at it.

The biopsy came back inconclusive (abnormal cells/pre-melanoma); however, with my history the surgeon will most likely be rather aggressive with removing surrounding tissue during surgery. It’s very likely I will not be allowed to run for up to two weeks and my Army Ten-Miler is a mere thirteen days away. Time will tell as to whether or not I’ll be able to participate in this race, a race that I was really looking forward to running with my son Daniel’s girlfriend Jess.

At my age, I lose speed and endurance very quickly. Depending on when I’m released to run again will determine whether or not I’ll have time to get back into racing shape for my OBX Half. If not, I plan to have the time of my life just running the race for fun with my friends! Things could be much worse…

 

As for the rest of my 2017 racing season, here’s what I’m planning, assuming that I recover quickly from surgery and stay injury free…

October 8 – Army Ten-Miler – Pentagon, Arlington, VA
November 12 – OBX Half Marathon – Kitty Hawk, Outer Banks, NC
November 23 – Thanksgiving Day 5K – Crossroads UMC, Ashburn, VA
December 3 – Run With Santa – Reston Town Center, Reston, VA
December 10 – NOVA Jingle Bell 5K – Clyde’s at Willow Creek, Broadlands, VA

 

  • Questions:
  • Have you been set to run a race only to have to pull out at the last minute?
  • Are you running any of the races I have on my schedule? 
  • How many races total do you plan to run in 2017? 

 



Hope to see you at a race!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.