I have had a down and up summer so far. As stated before, June was filled with a vertigo problem that almost made me give up on training. I was feeling tired and dizzy and ready to throw in the towel for training and then July hit. All of a sudden I was able to run 10, 12 ,13, 14 miles....wait a second, my body was starting to respond. August has even been better - I found myself doing even an 18 mi run. :)
So here I was Sunday morning, a nice cool morning which I always appreciate, ready to start a half marathon. The feeling that I had come a far way was just emotional and the feeling that I was lucky to be standing here made my heart race. I was ready to accomplish something that once was not even a concern to me - it is just a half.
Once again the race was a family and friend affair. Brandon and Mel were there, as well as Melissa & Diane from work. My father, my father-in -law, my mother-in-law and some other folks that I have gotten to know over time. Kim even came out to support us and take pictures.
The race started at 8:00 am and it was probably 60 degrees and nice at that time. It was a large group this year - somewhere around 1,000 participants and we all walked the 1/4 mile to the start. Diane from work was interested in running with me, since I was CLAIMING that I was going to use this as a training run, keeping my heart rate at 60 - 70% and staying somewhere between 11 min - 12 min/mile. Well I did not expect to feel good.
The first mile was a quick one, Diane looked at me with her Garmin and said you know we are running a 9:40/ mi pace. I smiled and said, let's see what happens. I knew that I could not maintain that rate once the heat set in, so I thought I should keep myself at a little harder pace to begin with, plus for some reason, I was not dying. Heart rate was more around 70 - 80%, but it is a race. Mile 1 - 6 my time was 1 hr and 3 min. I was smokin' (well for me this year anyway). I felt good and was ready for the second lap.
For the second lap, it did get warmer, my paced slowed down to a more 11:00 min/mile pace but I was still running. Not at one point in the race did I feel bad. I finished with a time of 2:18:34 for an avg of 10:35/mi.
No this is not a PR, yes I am happy. Today marked a goal obtained...what will tomorrow bring?
BTW, you still can give money on my behalf to Run MS. My sister is running the AK marathon for MS and me. Donate here!
4 comments:
Glad you had a good day out there! Congrats!
You did wonderful Juila! I hope marathon day goes just as well. :)
Maybe not a PB, but a PM (personal milestone). You ran a half marathon after fighting with your MS. You DID what you thought you could not!! So proud of you.
WOW! I'm impressed! Good for you! =)
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