About 2 months before this race, I got in touch with Cara who agreed to coach me. Prior to this time, I had been running 1-2x per week just as a get-away-from-the-desk time. But I was enjoying it and decided that a full Marathon would be too much, but maybe a Half would be a good distance! She agreed to help me and we got to work. I did end up taking two weeks off when I went to Portland, OR to see my family during these two months. Otherwise, I followed the plan. The longest run I had done up to this race was 10 miles which pretty much stretched me. I was pretty apprehensive about this first race, and with it being a Half, I wasn't sure how well I'd do, but I figured if I could do 10 miles, I could do another 5k..even if I walked it. Initially, two months prior, I had set 2:00 as my goal. Going into the race, I was very unsure and so I set my goals for the race: 1 - I finish the race
2 - I finish under 3:30 so I could get my medal :-)
3 - I won't be last
4 - I want to beat 2:30 I knew I'd finish the race one way or another. They had a 3:30 cut off time to receive a medal. With it being my first race, I had to be able to do that...why go 13.1 miles without a cool medal to show off? I didn't want to be last...not that there's anything wrong with that, but for me, I didn't want that to happen. And, if I accomplished 1-3, I wanted to beat 2:30. I ended up meeting all those goals! My unwritten goal was to run the whole race and only walk the 10-15sec during each aid station, which I did.
The course is pretty flat, so I figured I'd put a pace wrist band
together with even splits to make sure I stay on target for reaching my
goals. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to do an even 9:09 pace to beat 2:00, so I put together the 2:30 and I did a 2:15 just in case. I was pretty stoked when I kept coming in under the 2:15 paces. I knew I could run a very even 10:00 or so mile pace if I ran just breathing through my nose. That would keep me from going out too fast and burning out. After the initial 5k part of the course, I only had one person pass me. I caught him on mile 12. :-) At mile 10, I decided I was feeling good enough to start reeling people in. Being toward the back of the pack, I had plenty of people ahead of me to shoot for. It was quite fun to be giving it my all the last mile or two and be passing people as they were fading! I was tired when I was done, and there was a tinge of disappointment that I didn't try a little harder during miles 1-10 to try and get closer to 2:00, but I finished the race, and met my other goals, so I was very happy. I also knew I'd be back next year and will get a great PR! There were only about 140 runners, so this wasn't a large race, but it was still very fun and a great experience! After the race, I realized that two women from my church had also run the Half. I figured they had run the 5k, so I didn't worry about keeping up with them. Come to find out, they ran about a 1:45. I don't think they saw me, but I told my buddy at church and I haven't lived it down since. So, in 2010, I need to be able to beat them. :-) They're also about 12-15 years younger than me, but my buddy didn't care...I still let a couple of girls beat me. Oh well...better luck in 2010!
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