For my first half marathon I trained for about 6 months. For this half marathon, I didn't sign up until a month an a half before, so needless to say the training for this guy was not as thorough as the first. The longest run I did pre-race was 4 miles, which if you're good at math you'll know that's a little less than a third of the actual race distance. The runs I did complete in my training plan did feel good but they were definitely insufficient for the race. I created a plan to running 80% of the mile and walking 20%. That plan came about in my utter honesty in knowing that I could not, with my lack of training and less than stellar weight loss over the past few months (I seem to have plateaued), run the whole way.
The morning started off ok, it was pretty cold and partly cloudy but it wasn't supposed to rain, cold I can deal with because I would be running for the next 2+ hours which makes you hot so you know no biggie on the low temperature. The first 8 miles felt really good. At around 8.5/9 miles it started raining and the wind was blowing so the measly 46 degrees that it was felt much much colder. Then around mile 10.5/11 I started getting mild calf cramps in both legs, trying to push through because I really wanted to beat my time from 6 months ago. My phone died at mile 12 and the calf cramps were getting worse, so I decided to walk until just before the finish line, which I did. I could see the finish line so I started running, 5-10 steps in my calves seized tighter than they ever have in my life and it was excruciating. I think this was the most disappointing thing to me, I really like running across the finish line. My official time is off by at least 5 minutes because I took a small detour to my house since it was on the route to get some water. I paused my phone during that time so that I could keep an accurate run time, but then my phone died. So my time was officially 15 minutes faster than my time 6 months ago but I believe its probably about 20 minutes faster.
These girls at mile 3, the best part of the race! This is the synchronized skating team that I help coach, they manned the first water station of the race. They were so excited and all made sure they had their signs when I ran by. They gave me high fives and hugs and it definitely gave me a boost of energy!
Given all the conditions of the day, I am calling it a win. I did discover that I do like 98% of the GU flavors, I tried three new flavors on the course (Mint Chocolate, Blackberry, and Orange). My New Years Resolution this year was to complete one half marathon and now I have completed two! I think that I will do one of these longer races every 6 months just to keep myself running and focused. I know that I can do better but for now I am going to step down the running and step up some weights and yoga.
