Friday after work Josh and I drove to the expo in Richmond so I could pick up my race packet. We also checked out the booths and I bought a bright yellow pair of arm warmers. Afterwards we went to Joe's Inn for dinner and ate a bunch of spaghetti. Then I went to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up around 5:15 am to get moving and eat breakfast. I left my grandparents' house at 6:35 and picked up Josh on my way downtown. Unfortunately finding parking was a bit of a hassle, so eventually I hopped out to head to the starting line (well, after a long stop in the porta-potty line) while Josh parked the car.
The half marathon started at 7:30 (there was an 8k at 7 and the marathon at 8) and since the parking and bathroom break set me back a little, everyone was already in the line to start and I had to wind my way from the G wave up to the D wave. Unfortunately I didn't get my GPS watch going soon enough either, so when I crossed the starting line my watch wasn't connected to the satellite yet and I actually pulled over to the side for a few seconds so it could finally connect. That was annoying. But after all that? I was good to go.
I don't think I ever mentioned it here on the blog, but I joined a marathon/half marathon training program over the summer through a local running club. The coach wrote me out a detailed personalized training program that had me running four days a week with long runs up to 15 miles. The long runs were group runs on Saturday mornings in various rural places around the county. I made it to about 7 of those, but being out of town several times over the summer or being unable to get up and run at 6 am (tooo early), many of the runs were on my own. Anyway, my training included things I'd never done before like hill pickups and track workouts, and rather than simply getting all the miles in like I used to, I even had progressive time goals laid out for me for certain portions of runs. It was a challenging but fun way to mix up my training. And the day before the race I even chatted with the coach on how exactly to pace my 13.1 miles.
So I ran the first mile the slowest, the next two miles a little faster, miles 4-8 faster, and the last five miles even faster than that. My goal was to finish in under two hours, and I crossed the line in 1:57:31. I followed the training program, and it worked! The run took work, obviously, but I never felt like I was dying. There were even times when I made myself slow down in order to stick with my plan. I felt strong and in control the whole time, which was great. Of course afterwards, when I realized I hadn't quite beat my 2010 half marathon time, I kicked myself a little and wished I'd pushed myself harder. I know I can do better than 1:57. Next time...
Anyway, onto some pictures:
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| I look like I'm speed walking. But I'm not. |
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| All done! |
So after I crossed the line and got my finisher's medal, I walked back up to find Josh. Luckily I did, because there was a big crowd and we didn't have a contingency meet-up plan.
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| Another photo opportunity to show off my arm warmers. |
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| Stretching. It's important. |
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| Post-race grub. |
