Well, That was Slow . . .

So here is the requested report on the Brooklyn Half.  The day was a mixed bag.  On the plus side, it  was a gorgeous day on one of my favorite courses.  I finished, found the SBRC and Brooklyn Tri folks camped out next to each other at the pub, and had two celebratory beers before lunchtime.  And, most importantly, my left heel behaved and did not cause any distress.  Considering I didn't run a mile from December through most of March, this is a victory.  On the minus side, it was my slowest half ever, by a lot, and still wiped me out.  The only time I've run a slower half was at the end of a half-iron man. I got off to a decent start pace, until mile 1.5 when my right calf cramped.  I backed it down and resolved to watch the entire first wave go by.  The calf let go after another mile or two, and I settled in.  At about mile 9, I started feeling more confident, so I started to raise my cadence only to have the calf tweak again in a different spot.  I settled back down and reminded myself that this was just supposed to be  a training run . . .  Still, who knew that 10 minute miles could be so, um, rugged.  I'm trying not to read too much into the day, and reminding myself that it's May, and I have a whole summer ahead.    I'm not too worried about the calf.  The cramps were in the big part of the muscle and will heal soon enough, I think.