We started Saturday morning in Minneapolis running the Hot Chocolate 15K. This is the 5th year we have ran this race. Year 1...perfect weather. Year 2...blazing hot. Year 3....RAIN. Year 4... BLIZZARD! This year....COLD. We have literally seen it all with this race.

I was faster than the last time I ran this course but slower than year 1 and 2. Considering I'm dealing with knee pain, I was happy with my results.

  

After the race we jumped into the car and headed south to Madison. We got there at 4pm. We quickly took showers and meet the family for dinner at Olive Garden. My friend, Jenny and her daughter joined us. It was good to see them again.

The purpose of this whirlwind weekend was the UW Badger Varsity Band Concert. I have watched this concert every year when I was a kid. I've been a band geek for a long time. This year was extra special because it was the last year of Mike Leckrone. He is the famous band director who has been at the helm for 50 years!  It was great!

We spent the last weekend of March in Philadelphia to run the Love Run Half Marathon. We got into town very early on Saturday morning. We checked into the hotel and made our way down to the Convention Center. After wandering around for a while we eventually found the expo. Man that place is confusing!

After some burgers, we walked down to the Liberty Bell and stood in a very long line to see a broken bell.

We walked back to the hotel, bought a pizza and sat in the LOVE plaza. It was so nice outside. It was a beautiful day.

The race very wet and mostly flat. I did well in the beginning. I met a couple new friends and got them to finish line. Again, not my best race but I had lots of fun.

 After a mile walk in the pouring rain to the hotel we took a shower and a nap. We ventured out to a tall building to take in the view.

Another race is in the book for 2019 and finally I was able to run a decent race! The January one was extremely cold and icy and the February one I had strep, cold and pink eye.

I wasn't sure how it was going to go today. I have increased my mileage this month but it has been a lot of long, slow runs. I have done some speed work but speed work for a half is slower than 5K speed work.

My goal was to finish under 40 minutes. That is roughly a 12:30 pace. I know this course as I have ran it numerous times with various races. Miles 1 and 2 were consistent at 12:18 and 12:21.

Mile 3 sucked but there are some hills on that mile and I was just done with the race. When the finish came into the view, I sprinted down the final hill and finished at 39:34. Yay!  I made my goal!  I'm happy with it!