13.1

 

(before the race)

first of all i need to say thank you.

for those of you who sent emails, messages on facebook, texts,

thank you thank you!!

what encouraging friends i am totally blessed with!

let me throw out my disclaimer before we get rolling:

i do not have my finger on the pulse of all the latest & greatest in the world of running.

i am not on the cutting edge of half marathon training & nutrition.

so for those of you who have asked for tips & advice, i'm not your girl!

i am however,  a 44 year old mom who decided to run one again

& i did.

overall i felt good about my run

but i was a little disappointed with my finishing time.

the course was described as basically flat & fast.

well, most of those people were fast indeed.

while i run about a 9minute pace when i'm running a 3 miler, 

bumped up to a 10 minute pace when i run 5,

i certainly can not run that fast for 13 miles.

the course was a 6.5 out & back.

which is great if you're fast, you can see all the folks you are passing.

if you are not fast ( moi) it can be a little discouraging to see all the the runners passing you.

let me back up a tad~

as with any time i need advice or information,

i asked on facebook what training schedules were good ones.

there are so many different ways to go about preparing.

i love to run 

& run 3 miles everyday.

but hadn't run more than a 10k in over 20 years.

i chose a hal higdon schedule that worked best for me & where i was in my current running pace/distance.

the schedule i chose had mostly running with cross training thrown in there.

i didn't cross train & now wish i had.

a friend of mine who also runs halfs told me it made a big difference for her

when she trained with just running vs. running and adding in the cross training.

next time, i'll cross train too.

next time i run one i plan to prepare with a little more holistic approach.

eating more super foods, specific nutrients , etc that help with endurance.

back to the fast people.

there was a time in my life where i might run several 5k's and 10k's a month.

therefore i always felt prepared to run.

i got the feeling this weekend, many of those runners were not casual

"hey lets go run a half marathon" runners.

it looks like over half of the 2,220 runners ran a sub 10 minute pace.

maybe i don't get out much, but that totally impressed me!

i felt great cardio wise

& even my legs and feet felt fine.

speaking of feet--a few months ago i went to the big peach running company.

there i went through their fit process where i was analyzed for my style of running

& then fitted with the best shoe for me.

turns out i had been running in a good choice ( new balance)

but went with the saucony's that were advised and they have been awesome shoes.

now that i know which shoes to wear, i'll try to find them for a discount

vs. paying over $100 for them in the stores.

while i felt great cardio & strength wise,

i wished my endurance had been better.

the schedule i used only had me run one 10 miler prior to the half.

also my schedule told me those last three miles would be very doable with all the excitement.

i ended up running 2 10's and 1 11...& felt fantastic during that 11

however sunday....i thought those last 3 miles were pretty tough.

i intentionally started out slow, running the first 6 a tad slower than i normally run, 

hoping to have a burst of energy at the end

which incidentally never showed up,

but overall i felt i did the best i could & kept a pretty even pace the entire time.

( i'd give anything to remember my finishing time when i ran these 20 years ago).

as far as future runs, i'm hoping to keep some mid-distance runs ( 5-6's) in my weekly schedule

a couple of short distances a week ( 3's)

& run a 10 miler at least once a month.

i'm also going to research nutrition tips for distance running too.

when i crossed the finish line i looked up and saw my sweet man cheering me on.

i just about started to cry.

monday morning when i logged into facebook and saw all the love

i just about started to cry 

again.

seriously

i might not have been speed racer

but i loved it!!!!

& hope to be back in seaside to do it all over again next year !

 (& here's the after!)

since you probably feel you could have run a half marathon in the time it took to read this post,

i'll share some scoop about our b&b, the weather, seaside, etc later this week.