so, i ran another half marathon. the Dexter to Ann Arbor half.
it was not my best time. i finished in 2:03.55. that's pretty damn slow for me.
however, i am going to feel good about this. because:
1. it was pretty hot. the wind was lovely and when there was shady it was just fine. but often neither of these things were happening, and then it was pretty hot. (the high today was 29C, but i think it was at most 25C while we were running. still. we're not used to that yet! i've had really only two hot runs so far this year.) and i saw many people (maybe 5?) at the side of the road with firemen or paramedics pouring water over them and checking pulses and so on. safety first, kids.
2. i ran the first 3.5 miles with my maine friend, the one who's made of sterner stuff? apparently it turns out gallbladder surgery does, in fact, slow even her down a tad. so, we ran 10-ish minute miles for that time, and after that i did pull out ahead and finished with an overall 9:27/mile pace, but clearly that meant some pushing. my Garmin could tell me exactly how much, but who cares. i dont' need all those stats. i run on *feel*, man. plus it's in the other room.
3. i'm still not quite back to pre-illness energy levels, i think? it's ok. i need more time to build up my stamina again. ... and so i pushed for much of those remaining 9.5 miles, but i didn't really have a hammer to drop. that's what i had to give without feeling like shit, and i wasn't in the mood to feel like shit. what mood would that be, really? anyway, it wasn't today. that's quite ok.
4. two years ago, i ran this race 8 minutes faster. seriously! i checked. 1:55.53. it was slightly cooler that day, but not so much so. ... but why is this not cause for despair? because last time i was already in better shape, ok, yet also the last two miles WERE THE WORST -- because i had gone out faster than i could maintain for the whole race, and so felt like hell on sweaty toast at the end. to my amazement, i walked three times in those last two miles in 2012. i could SEE the finish, yet i walked!! so, while i finished in 1:56, i also positive splitted like a positive splat. and afterwards wanted to puke/whimper/roll up in a ball.
but today, when i approached the final hill, i was like: ok! almost almost there! can i push a little faster?! ... um, no i can't. but that's ok, because i'm not whimpering or walking! and afterwards i hung out with friends and walked around (still no puking/whimpering) and from how i'm walking right now, obviously i'll be sore tomorrow, but certainly nothing disastrous. i think i will go join the outdoor pool for June tomorrow and swim it off?
so. summer has three months ahead of us. time to get back on the training! onwards!
Well, you might have felt slow, but you beat me! I came in at a truly slow 2:05:44: http://www.westwight.co.uk/default.asp?iId=EHJMJH
ReplyDeleteThe fact that this made me the 17th fastest lady on the course, and that the only training I was able to do was one deliberately slow >15k off road run a week, and that it was seriously hilly: http://gb.mapometer.com/running/route_3819102.html, both make me feel a wee bit better. But that was nonetheless more than TWENTY minutes slower than my last XC half marathon time back in October. Which is just ridiculous.
Well done on the swimming. I can't manage to cope with the boredom long enough to swim more than 800m in a pool session, but then I am EXCEPTIONALLY slow, so there's that.
Upshot: you win. :-)