One Down, One To Go

It was a fun day at the races! I'm ready to do it again tomorrow!

Quick Recap: I didn't run as fast as I thought I might, but I had a great time. To be honest, it was harder than I thought it was going to be, but I knew that stressing over what pace I was or was not running would simply do no good. It was nice to enjoy the race simply for the love of the sport. Instead of stressing over my splits, I took time to enjoy the beautiful scenery, the excitement of strapping on a timing chip, a start and finish line, and the camaraderie of the other runners. I ran the entire race with a smile on my face. I let myself enjoy the race. 

My Garmin: 1:38:52/13.41 miles/7:22 pace 
Official Results: 1:38:51/13.1 miles/1st Age Group/10th Woman

I thought a half marathon was supposed to be 13.1 miles? Apparently I need to work on running tangents.

Finish line shot captured by Sherpa Dan

That was fun!

I heart racing!

On an encouraging note, results indicate that my second half of the race was much stronger than my first half, which means I either ran the race smart or started out too conservatively. I averaged 7:49 pace for the first 7.1 miles, and 7:13 for the last; both halves were equally hilly so I feel like it's a good comparison (and hopefully bodes well for Boston?). I was able to pass a lot of people on the second half of the race too, which is much better than being passed :)

My leg behaved itself for the most part; the latter hills caused my leg to start tightening up, but once I got out of the hills at Mile 11, I was fine and able to drop the pace (my last two miles were sub-7 pace). I've still got a lot of work to do with getting my speed back to where it was, but it will come. Right now I'm just damn happy to be out racing again!!


**On another note, I witnessed something today I have never before witnessed in person: a girl who finished directly in front of me literally crapped her pants upon crossing the finish line. She was wearing light yellow shorts and it was literally a chocolate luge running down her legs. Poor girl. I feel somewhat responsible as I was trying to chase her down at the end (unsuccessfully), and once I was upon her heels, she started picking it up...to the point of an explosion. At least she beat me. I hope that never happens to me.