Day 3,588: The Dalton Red Carpet Virtual Half Marathon

Just another half-marathon.

In my mind, my next long run was really going to be weeks away. After the Chicago Marathon, I still had issues with speed that led to my initial consultation with a sports medicine doctor in late September and ultimately an MRI-confirmed stress fracture in my right shin.

This time, my recovery has been different. I hit two milestones last week -- the ability to run 10-minute miles instead of my typical 11s on Oct. 18 and then two days later, I was finally able to run under 10-minute miles.

But still ... I wasn't planning on doing any long runs until I felt I was ready.

Then I saw an announcement on Facebook. It was a virtual run offered by the Dalton Red Carpet Half Marathon. They just ran their race last Saturday and opened a virtual race, offering whatever they had leftover of their race shirts and medals if you registered (cost is $50 plus online fee). All proceeds would go to City of Refuge, their charity.

I am not fond of most virtual races but this was an excellent hook -- it's a way for a race to reduce their leftover inventory (that won't be good come next year's race) and raise more money for their cause.

So I signed up two days ago, planning to run today when I had a few extra hours. It is my second virtual race, after I ran a virtual Jeff Galloway 13.1 with a baby in a jogging stroller a year and a half ago just to be considered for streaker status in that race.

I set out to the park and hoped to just do 11 laps around Lake Clara Meer and then come home to finish it out. But of course, when I rounded the lake the first time a production crew was filming a speeding Jeep on the west side of the lake, blocking off access to that part.

I had to get creative and it mainly involved me running back and forth from the bowl near Park Tavern to the newer part of the park, Piedmont Park Commons.

My running was slow, I figured this would happen. I was a little surprised that by Mile 4, my Chicago Marathon race shirt felt too hot and I pondered going home to change. I stayed in the park but by Mile 6 I wondered if I would even be able to finish.

I convinced myself to stay through Mile 8 and then I convinced myself to go up and down past the dog park enough times until I could return home for 13.1 miles. I was able to speed up a little at the end but was pretty glad this was over.

I finished in 2:17:17, about four minutes slower than the 2:12:53 I ran in March 2015 for the Jeff Galloway virtual run, but who's counting?

Time: 9:29 a.m.
Temp: 64 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (Chicago Marathon '16), shorts, Saucony Zealot ISO 2.