3M Half Marathon Race Report!

Let me start with two facts: (1) Worst training/prep ever (2) I PR-ed.

Oh yeah.

One of my 2011 Fitness Goal was to run a sub-2:15 on a half in April. That was before I signed up for this half...so now I have the one in April to PR on!

So 1 goal accomplished!  I finished with an exciting time of 2:13:44. I was so excited.

So fact 1, worse training ever. As I noted in my last post, allergies have been killing me. This Sunday is actually the first time I haven't fallen asleep on a weekend afternoon in 3 weeks. And I don't nap. I have felt awful, which means I did a whole 15 miles training this month, 2 of which I was walking on the treadmill. So 13 miles actually ran in January. Then to top it all of, yesterday contained a horrible headache, a 2 hour nap at 5pm, and general ickiness. I tried to relax and read in the evenings, and finally got hungry around 10:30pm. So the guy and I went to McDonald's. Carbo load anyone? I had fries and a cheeseburger, mainly because I really felt like I needed some iron.

Then the alarm went off at 5am. I hit snooze... and finally got out of bed at 5:17am. Magically, my head didn't hurt, and I felt okay. I made coffee and half an english muffin with almond butter (yum) and got ready to race. I changed my mind on my outfit, showered, and got ready to go.

I got there was time to spare... said hi to a friend pacing the 1:55 group, and stretched. I started strong about 7 minutes after the gun time. I felt good... it was 73 degree out, but overcast. The course is know as a PR course, with an overall downhill throughout. This doesn't mean there weren't some hills here and there, but it was nice. I hit a hunger wall a little before 8 and again after 11. Felt like I was running on empty. Luckily there were Powerade stops shortly, and I made it through.

When I hit 10 and realized I could hit 2:15, I pushed myself the most I could. Perhaps a little much, hence the wall at 11. But I rebounded before 12, and ran my hardest for the last 1.1 Wow, that felt good. I was SO proud of myself.

It's races like this that remind me why I want to keep running. :-)

Happy Week to You All!

Mileage: 28/1000