10k Training: I ran a 1/2 Marathon!!!!

I did it! I ran a 1/2 Marathon!!

For those of you who arn’t interested in the play by play here are the bullet points:

• 13.1 Miles
• 2 Hours 10 Min 16 Sec
• Ranked 1473 out of 2778 Overall
• Ranked 788 out of 1773 Females
• 9:57 Min Mile Average
• No Walking!!

Now for a bit more detiail read on for those of you interested in what is next skip down.

It was a great day for running honestly great temp not too humid. We started at 7:30 so it didn’t have a chance to heat up much, either.  They started us by pace and honestly I had no idea where to start, so I picked the back of the 9:30  front of the 10 min group. If I want to keep running like this I NEED to buy a more accurate GPS so I can train better anyway…

My friend RB (Running B not the B who got married in December)  started with me even though we both knew he was going to blow me out of the water. After a few min he took off and I was on my own.

I’m in the blue tank top and black shorts to the left of the blond ponytail, RB is behind her head, lol.

Signs and Spectators:

Along the way were a lot of great signs and spectators, the first one that jumped out at me was a little girl with peach fuzz for hair in a Team in Training shirt (A leukemia foundation) sitting on a blanket shaking her bell like nothing else. There was a good sized group running for Team in Training and it was cool to have her on the route. They also had cheerleaders every few miles the whole race it was great to keep seeing those purple shirts. There were also a few great signs here are my top 3:

• You trained longer than Kim Kardashian was married.
• Worst. Parade. Ever.
• Where is everyone going?

Prep:

 The night before RB and I went out for pasta, I’ve never done anything so physically demanding that I needed to carb load but it was a nice excuse to eat grown up Mac and Cheese (yes I know dairy is a bad idea but I don’t have digestive problems so I decided to chance it.)  All day Saturday I was pushing water and Saturday night I did 8 oz with a Fizz tab (electrolytes) to help me stay hydrated. Then Sunday morning about an hour before the run I did a 8 oz protein drink, I didn’t want anymore fluids than that.  Then I used 1/2 a  hammer gel about 10 min before the race a little later than they recommend but I had the protein so I was trying to spread it out.

The Run:

I don’t have any splits for the mile markers since my tracker is so off..but anyway. The first 3 miles went well If I had to guess somewhere around a 9:15 min/mile. But I knew that if I kept that pace there was a strong chance I would have to walk at some point and one of my goals was to NOT WALK. So I started slowing down and pacing myself a bit. Right when I found a rhythm I saw the 9:55 pace team and decided to follow them for a while. Probably the best decision I made all race. At 5 miles I finished off my Hammer Gel  and then got a water at the 6 mile stop. I noticed around 10 miles my self talk increased, ya know, oh just walk a little, no feel your legs they are fine its all in your head keep going. That kind of stuff. More water at the 11. Also around the 11 my play list ran out, normally it would restart but not that day, I only one with one ear bud in anyway (so I can hear whats going on around me) so I just took out the other one and enjoyed the cheering and such the rest of the way in. The last 1/2 mile was HARD maybe music would have helped but the people were great. I saw the pace team starting to slip away and just tried to keep up with them, I maybe finished 30-45 seconds after them, yea! 

 Thanks to:

Mac- for not only putting up with but encouraging my Training.

M- For all the encoragment and for being my driver/photographer on race day when Mac couldn’t.

RB- Thanks for all the training encouragment and hints!

Whats Next?

Well this coming Saturday I have a 5k Adventure run, its the same run that started this run madness last summer. Then I have 3 weeks to do some speed training for my 10k on the 30th.

Walking AFTER crossing the finish line.