The Quadruple Part 4-Moscow International "Half"

Gads this one was a mess. Perfect weather, perfect day, legs were perky and hammered out a 1:25 half for the first time since 2003! BUT- the damn course was nearly TWO KM LONG! I'm truly disgusted with the whole situation. To run a 1:25 only SIX DAYS off a hard xc half is noting to sneeze at and would have been my A qualifier if I decide to do Chicago this fall. I wasted my legs and should have probably dropped out. I now have this slow as molasses time over 1:30 next to my name in the results not at 22.8km but as if it were a half! I am truly disgusted by the lack of competence on the part of the organizers this time. This race has not ever had this issue whenever I have run it before, and how do you f#ck up so badly that you add nearly TWO KM to the course?! I knew something was up when I came through "2km" in 9:30! I just thought the markers were off. Sometimes that happens. Then I finished the first of 4 loops in 23 min and change and that was when the WTF alarm went off?! So I now run just over 5k in 23 min????Ummmm methinks not. So yeah each loop was 5700m and after that the desire to even try just died. Problem was that 4 min/km pace seemed damn easy and I ended up using this race as my final long workout in preparation for a longer race coming up. At the very least the organizers could have published the true distance in the results so as not to have a totally sh!tty time next to my name and everyone else's. On one of the running sites they did actually publish the correct distance but not in the official results which just sucks rocks. I have done this half many times before, but after this debacle, I think I'm going to blacklist it and not bother anymore. I expect this from the Korolev races because they are almost always off and I just go there to get in a workout, but this really floored me. To run one of my best halves and not have it count for crap was a huge waste of my time and legs. I ran this race even steven parking at 4 min pace(just oover 4 on the uphills, just under 4 on the flats). I am 39 years old and I can't get up and pull a 4 min/km half out of my ass every day and I usually don't get the chance to because by the time our halves roll ariund, I'm recovering from and ultra or some other long race that has put my speed in the gutter for a few weeks. The thing that pisses me off the most is that I MIGHT NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN because I'M NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER!  Yes, after the quadruple, i did manage to get into speed/distance shape. I just hope it works out for the longer race that is coming up very soon. I committed to doing said race only about 6 weeks out and didn't actually officially sign up til 3 weeks out. I feel like a student who has tried to cram for a big exam at the last minute to be perfectly honest, so I'll just go and do it and see what happens. Not revealing said race just yet. Only a few people know who need to and this is something I need to disappear into the night and do in quiet without the pressure of everyone following my results or plans. 

The Quadruple-Part 3- Spring Thunder XC Half

Oh dear, I wanted to reregister for the 7k instead of the half to give it a rest one week but I missed the deadline by a day! Oopz. This course was not easy and judging from the prerace pictures I was sent, I'd be hard up to break 1:30 on it fresh as opposed to already with 2 halves down. It was a hilly xc course in a pretty park. I just resigned to do it as a workout taking the first of 3 laps sanely to see what the course was like then picking up in the 2nd and 3rd laps. I actually sat back in 4th until about the end of lap 2 when I began to move up. 2nd and 3rd went back and forth til the very end when I caught Yana at the beginning of the final lap. The effects of the previous 2 races were stacking up and I couldn't pull my traditional gap this time and finished a close 3rd. Top 3 were pleasantly surprised by large gift certificates to the Asics shop. There was n o mention of a prize purse before the race. Last yr top8 got gift certificates for about 300$ This time around 3rd place got me about 500$ and some nice gear :) Finishing 1:27 on this not fast course was a surprise too. Each week, I'm getting progressively faster so recovery is ok. Touch wood!

The Spring and fall thunder races are my favorites of the Moscwo runs. The organizer tries to do the absolute best for the runners and each time I run his events they are better and better. Courses are accurate to a T and there were 3 well stocked aid stations along the way and there were even 3 drum bands out there to keep us going. Hats off to Misha for putting on a top notch race!

The Quadruple Part 2- Zvezdniy Gorodok

In my attempt to get my ass in shape, I continued the distance work on April 20th finishing 3rd in the half at Zvezdniy Gorodok. This was the first warm race of the season with temps around 18-20C and sunny. There is no water on this course but I did have crew to save the day. I was a bit faster than a year ago when i was just doing a training run....oh wait this year was also a training run for a longer race...:) I Started out behind some strong Yakut girls one of which is on the 100k team. I actually ran in 5th place until about halfway when I managed to pull away from them.  Pix below:

A tired ride home- I soon hit drool sleep :P

On the course

The Quadruple-Part I 20KM Korolev

I have not done the spring 20k in Korolev since 2009. I have been chosing the Kirzhach Half instead. Last year, it was cancelled, and I lucked out and got to do the hour run in Zelenograd. This year, it was cancelled the day before the race,so I decided to use Korolev as my 20k tempo workout. I have some longer races on the horizon and really need to get some good tempo runs in before. This year, fir the first time since I think since 2007, the 20k course was clear of ice/snow/slop/ and other melting substances because we had such a mild winter. It was still full of potholes and ankle rolling spots so, I had to watch it. I just did this one as a true tempo run for the win. I have never won this one. I've been 2nd ,3rd, but it was kind of a curse that was time to break:)