Ditching my partner?

This weekend was great and a rare event, Joe and I raced in separate events. He completed his first tri on Sat in Newport and by acting as a fan I saw him at every section and lived up the role as Biggest Fan. He did the same for me on Sun at the Ocean's Run Half Marathon, taking his bike from point to point (even cheered for strangers). I had no expectations going into today's event, my training has been in the toilet and I never run alone. From out of no where I pulled a pretty respectable time (2:08:25 unofficial) and shaved close to 8 minutes from my half marathon time from the spring. Now my plan had been run today, establish a base (had been hoping for a bit better than 2:20), run Amica and get a better time by 3-5 mins and then cap off the fall with the last half being in Nov with an even better time. Joe had planned to run Amica, but if we run together I can almost guarantee a slower time. This makes no sense, he's a faster runner than me but together I don't pull good times on the distance runs. Part of it is we choose to stay together so when one poops out we both poop out. The other is when I get tired I depend on him to pull me out of it, today I had no one but myself. My point is proven by my half marathon PR which was set in Providence 2 years ago and again Joe was there as Head Cheerleader not running it.

All of this aside if he didn't train with me I wouldn't have accomplished all that I have up to this point. There have also been races that he has sacrificed his time for my finish, Newport Marathon and Bermuda Half Marathon. Lets be honest, I'm not elite nor am I serious about how I train; this is more about fitness and the experience. So is my goal of improving over the next 2 races important enough to ask him to find other events? And if so will I really be able to keep improving to meet my fall racing goals?

Miles trained today: 13.1

Days till RMH Providence Women's Classic: 7

Days till Amica Half Marathon: 21

Days till HP Maine Coast Half Marathon: 42

Is $60 too much?

Hi, yeah I know I've been slacking. Story of my life at the current moment, but lets move on. I had decided I wanted to run the Ocean's Run Half Marathon on 9/26. My training, like blogging, has been questionable but I feel like I can run a half. In fact, I decided I would do one in Sept, Oct and Nov. Hey, if I'm not doing a full why not have a little fun with this. I was ready to register this weekend before I saw the cost. Ocean's Run is $60! Give me a break! Really? Why? I just can't bring myself to pay for it. I've paid a lot to run some races, more than $60. Why do I care about this one now? First of all the company is for-profit with very little going to charity. This group does put on good events, but do I really want to contribute to her vacation pot? Second, the t-shirt is cotton. What the hell am I going to do with another cotton t-shirt? If it was at least a running shirt I could see the $60. Third, I know there will be NADA in the goodie bag. Remember the bags from CVS 5k a few years ago, full of a years worth of samples? That kind of goodie bag would be worth the $60. Then they almost got me with the "free" beer at the end, lets call it what it is..a $60 beer. I'm running out of options. There is no other half marathon in New England that Sunday. I thought about Salem on Sat but then remembered I'll be in full on cheerleader mode at the Amica Tri for Joe. I love the area the half is going to be in, it's at our beach. It's going to be beautiful and blissfully flat. The weather is finally on my side. I really want to run it, again this group is expensive but they do host good events. The jury is still out but I have until 9/24 till the price jumps to $70!

Miles trained today: 5