Sunday's half marathon came up fast. The week approaching the race seemed to drag on, and then all of a sudden I was waking up, tired and not wanting to run.
I sat there in my housecoat, already wearing my race clothes underneath, with my eyes closed as my mom kept telling me, "You don't have to do it! You are too tired. Just crawl back to bed."
However, I couldn't NOT do it! I had to trust the training I've done, or rather the cross training, and just do it. Plus, I already wrote about it on the blog. Once you go down the road of making things public, you gotta commit!
The race started at 9AM, so I had some time in the morning to get myself ready - aka, sit there and whine about how tired I was, but refuse to stay home. I hopped into my car all bundled up, waited for it to warm up, and went on my way. I was going to run this thing whether I wanted to or not. In fact, I only started getting pumped up about it on the drive there. Phewf! Glad I didn't stay in that sleepy funk all morning.
Usually there is a race expo where you pick up your race package. Yadda, yadda. You guys all know this. However, since this was a smaller, local race, I arrived early to pick up my race package, as they offered race-day pick up only. I was under the impression that we only got socks at this race. Whatever, that's cool. I was simply happy to be signed up for another half marathon.
BUT.
BUT.
BUT.
At the end - oh, the painful end - we got a medal! Hooray!
Let's go over some mileage details here. Not times or splits or anything like that, but a little breakdown of how the race was broken up.
Miles 1-3: Mostly on the road. We crossed over some trails, but nothing major. Some rolling hills.
Miles 4-6: Aaand the rolling hills continue. I was feeling okay. Note: OKAY.
Miles 7-10: We ran along some trails here. I loved the scenery!
Miles 10-13.1: Back along the trails, then mixed with road. Rolling hills. Two ass whooping hills towards the end. I mean, they weren't steep, but they were long. After the first one I started to slow down. Then it hit a plateau. I thought, okay, push it until the end. Then I looked up, and the finish line was after another hill.
Oh, hills. You will forever be the death of me.
Overall, I thought this was a good race. I was thrilled when I finished! I didn't PR (this is a bad trend), but I was so close. I am finished running half marathons for this year, but 2013 is a whole other ball game. Besides, I first started running half marathons this year anyway - AND I DID FIVE! YES! That alone makes me so happy, because up until a while ago running a half marathon never even crossed my mind, let alone setting a goal of five in a year. Sure, I may have gotten a bit excited off the bat, but to be honest, I am still in love with running. I don't feel burnt out, and I am confident in my abilities. I'm confident in the fact that PR city isn't too far from me either. It's all about improvement!
Will I be signing up for this race again? Sure, why not! I will just make a bigger effort to train on some hills. Ugh, hills.
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