PR Half Mary!!

i am pleased to report i came home from the surf city 1/2 mary with a personal best! yahhh! 1:38!

waking up race morning was a bit of a struggle... the night before the neighbors, up in newport beach (if you know newport those houses are really close together), decided to have themselves a party... until about 3am or so... which was everything less then ideal to wake up at 5:30am to go run 13.2 miles. so me- having been wide awake from 1am-3am, woke up at 5:30 thinking i had already run the race! counting on coffee and adrenaline i got up and out the door!

my entire plan was to 'see where i am at' in terms of pace vs. heart rate. i have not worn a heart rate monitor in a long time so i was interested in seeing where i could sustain running some what 'comfortably'. i started out in the back on the first wave and took the first mile to do the usual dodging of people as my warm up. by mile 2 i decided i really had no time to waste and got into my grove. by the middle of mile 2 i had caught up to the 1:40 pace group. in the past i would have thought i was running too fast if i was with them. but my heart rate was just under 170 and i felt like i was just out for a 'comfortably' hard run. by mile 3 the pace group was behind me!

i ran miles 3-6 with about 3-4 other people. it worked out that i had finally settled in with people running similar paces. mile 6 was a slight downhill and right turn back onto coast highway. since the course was pretty much flat (only slight ups/downs) i took advantage of any downhill! i ended up dropping the group of runners i was with and got into my grove. i felt the best miles 6-10. i really felt great! my heart rate stayed right around 173-175.

mile 11 i am pretty sure my lack of sleep, wine at dinner and overall pre season fitness caught up to me because i was over it! i was so ready to be done running. i just stayed on it though because i was still on track to beat 1:40 (my previous PR and long time 'barrier'). i finished right at 1:38!

i also finished without completely wreaking myself! i really felt like i ran the race at my threshold because i have run harder half marathons where i feel way worse. so- despite all of the factors- i am very happy to come out of it with a best time!! going in i felt like i could run a 7:30 pace but i just did not know how i would feel. the feeling of being in control of the pace was awesome and makes me realize i have a potential to run faster!

the 1:30's feels like i have entered new 'runners' territory! which is so much fun! breaking 1:40 has been a goal for a while so i happy to say that i CAN run faster and i feel more like a RUNNER! whaooohoooo!!

now to decide whats next...

to your health,

C