Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon

This morning's half marathon:

Being that I am in training for bigger and better things - specifically the 26.2 with Donna, I was not inclined to blow it out on a half marathon this morning. Many of the peeps from my running group were there and were planning on running together. After a brief discussion with my co-pace group leader, Monica, we decided to go for 13 min/miles. That is a comfortable pace that we both run on our own; although, neither of us had ever done more than 6 miles at that pace. Two other friends, Andi and Alinka, decided to join us.

The start was cold. It was 51 degrees and 96% humidity. I had decided to wear my running gloves, but that was it for cold weather gear. Monica, who is from Wisconsin (and, who was wearing a singlet, BTW), declared me a wimp. The start was also VERY crowded. The 6K race started with us, and ran with us for the 1st mile before we ran our separate ways. So we were stuck behind strollers and walkers and race shirt (long sleeve heavy cotton crew neck shirt) wearers for the first mile. Even so, we managed the 1st mile in 12:53.

It stayed cold and I could not feel my feet. I was finding it tough to run and my legs felt heavy. I just wanted to warm up, already. We saw other people we knew, chatted a bit, then went on. Miles 2 and 3 - 13:11 and 12:59.

Between miles 3 and 4, Alinka was having trouble with her left shoe and stopped to re-tie. While we stopped, I got rid of the gloves. 13:26

By this point, we were playing leap-frog with some guy who looked like he was missing his skate-board. He would get in front of us, then we would pass him, repeat, repeat, repeat. And, the times he would fall behind us, we could hear him loudly hacking up a loogie. Gross! Later, between miles 11 and 12, we would pass him and not see him again. Mile 5 - 13:15.

At mile 5.5, we all took a port-a-potty stop. 2 potties. 4 runners. 2.5 minutes. Uuugghh. Mile 6 - 15:48.

Feeling much better, we all picked up the pace a little. Miles 7 and 8 - 13:04 and 12:27.

The sun was fully up by now, clear blue sky, light breeze. The course got sunny ... and warm.
Mile 9 - 13:19.

Between miles 9 and 10, my right quads started cramping, and I was feeling fatigued. I was still a bit under the weather from an upper respiratory infection. If I had been running on my own, I might have said "screw it", and slowed way down. But, with everyone else around, I kept going forward. Mile 10 - 13:06.

At this point, all of us noticed that the race mile markers and our Garmins were no longer in sync. It seemed that the race markers were about 1/10 of a mile off - against us. The course turned onto streets with rolling hills in direct sunlight. Great. Mile 11 - 12:59.

Alinka's hip started hurting, and she dropped back, telling us all to go on. Andi requested to slow down a little. Miles 12 and 13 - 13:09 and 13:01.

What was left was 0.25 miles. It should have been 0.1, but it was off. Annoying. Monica and I went for it. Finishing the last 0.25 in 2:22 (9:28 pace).

Final time - 2:55:21 for a pace of 13:14 (for 13.25 miles) or 13:22 (for 13.1 miles).

Even with the potty stop, it was a PR by 2:30 for me!!! Just imagine if we hadn't stopped. HA!

Anyway, the whole run was a blast; and here is the best thing of all:

This race is the first race (of ANY distance) that I did not slow down at the end. In fact, I sped up!!! I am really pleased with that!