Monday, September 16, 2013

This race ain't half of nothin!

Boy were they not kidding when they choose this as the motto for this 13.1
So this year 26.2 was not in the cards for me. For the most part I have been ok with that, although, those 4 minutes for my BQ I lost at Chicago due to injury haunt me at times...
So I decided to focus on a 13.1
And then even that had some wrenches thrown into the mix. After so much therapy, $, and even Xray's and MRI'S, I still don't have a ton of answers, and seem to be stuck at about this distance, most days. Other days 6 miles is all I can run. So I didn't get in quite the training I was hoping for, being that this half marathon had an elevation gain of about 1200 ft.
Talk about a killer. I even trained some on the course, but didn't go up high enough... just a little dumb blond moment not reading the map right.

I wasn't quite sure how this race was going to pan out, and I was hoping that I would only have to stretch my leg out a few times.
The first couple miles I got in a nice fast paced groove, knowing I'd have to dial it back for the up hill miles. And I kept a decent pace up hill for the first mile and a half. Yep that is what I had trained on.
And then it just kept going up, and up. And I'm talking a grade that at times it was almost easier to power walk up, then run... which I did, a few times. That was the first time I have walked in a race since my very first 13.1 almost 10 years ago. That was quite a humbling moment for me.
 6 miles of up hill, I was so ready to start going down!
And boy was I happy!
At about mile 9, I had to stretch out my knee real quick, and that was it!
I have never been so happy. I'm pretty sure had there not been brutal hills I might not have had to stretch it out at all. I probably only lost about 30-40 sec. on that.

This was by far one of the toughest races I've ever done, and probably in the last few years anyways, the least prepared...
But I did it! I finished 9th overall, and 5th female, with a time of 1:45. Tough chicks in this race, #1, and 2 were girls! Heck ya!
I will definitely be doing this race again! Hopefully I can run it with some serious training, and shave a few minutes off:) and NO injury!

1 comment:

Taffy and Tony said...

Awesome job! And great time on such a tough course! You are amazing!