Racing sucks

I thought I was ready, well-rested and decently hydrated. I was wrong. Yesterday's HM kicked my ass. It was my worst performance (specifically the second half), my slowest pace ever, and I came away from it pretty defeated. (And I'll be a little whiny - the course was long. All of our watches were a quarter-mile or more over.)

I'm trying to shake it off. It was a rough day - very warm - and I developed a hellish blister, which apparently made me tense way up (my shoulders hurt SO MUCH today). The race was tough for the entire group, although Aaron did pretty well. He does well in the heat, and I'm really proud of him. If the course hadn't been long, he would have PRed; otherwise, he was really close. Afterward, we celebrated/commiserated at the Beer Engine, which was excellent.

But I don't really want to talk about the race anymore. Let's talk about what's next.

I'm not entirely sure. I have a 10k on June 9, and I'm hoping to do that in under an hour. That's going to be really difficult for me, but if I actually do it, it'll redeem my 2012 "racing season" and get me in the proper mindset for October's half-marathon, my HM of redemption. I also have the Akron Marathon Relay in September. I'm not sure which leg I'm running - I think it's the last one - but I know I want to do it in sub-10s. I definitely need to do some speed training.

I did my first HM last September, quickly followed by another - my PR - in October. The two after that have not gone well and have left me with shaken confidence.