I'm going to try to get this all out before I forget it. Last weekend was the Richmond Half Marathon. Although the details are coming.... I DID IT!!! I broke 2 hours. It was by the skin of my teeth in 1:59:28, but it's official! GOODBYE TWO HOURS!!!
It doesn't matter anymore that I was sick two weeks before the race and missed seven days of running (and coughed up a lung when I did start running again), or that I missed my longest run (the one that was supposed to solidify my confidence). Speaking of confidence, it also doesn't matter that my confidence was shot and I started looking at this race as more of a warm up to the February Princess. None of that matters anymore.
I'll skip all the details, but somewhere in the process of preparing for the race on Friday and Saturday, I decided I just needed to chill and see how it went. My plan was to start out slowly and just see how I was feeling.
Here's the interesting thing. Somehow I lost 9 pounds these past weeks. I've had some stomach issues and have been eating really well to try to figure out what's going on. The significance of that is that for over a year I've been telling myself that the only way I could break 2 hours was if I lost 10 pounds. I don't know why I had that number stuck in my head, but I did. When I was weighing myself the few weeks before the race, I was amazed that the scale was 9 pounds lighter. (I even had my husband weigh himself a few times just to make sure it wasn't wrong.) You'll see why this was significant in a little bit...
So, race day rolls around and I ran with a friend who I've been doing my long runs with. She had no time goal and just wanted to stay with me. I kept telling myself to focus on my pace in the first two miles and not push it. FAIL! We started out way too fast. In the past, when I've done that I've immediately thought "I'm dead" and psyched myself out. I really made an effort to stay calm this time and just focused on each mile. It was really amazing that I could do that. I had my Garmin on so I was really able to know exactly what my pace was and if I was on target.
Things were going really well, but I inevitably started getting tired around 7-8 miles which also were the hilliest part of the course. Every time I wanted to slow down I thought about those 10 (well, 9) pounds I lost and how they weren't holding me back anymore. I was not going to allow myself to get tired and give up. So on I went and as I checked each mile split, I was still in the range. I really started to believe I could do it.
The coolest thing happened at mile 10 which had nothing to do with me. There was a man on the sidelines in a place where it wasn't crowded and he was yelling encouragement to the runners. He said "only a 5K left! NO REGRETS! Do not leave anything out on the course, but give it everything you've got!" Man, did I need to hear that. I'll never know who that was, but "Thank you!". The last two miles were a blur. My running partner ended up tripping and falling between miles 11-12 so I slowed down a bit to let her catch up. The race ends on a down hilll and although I didn't think I had anything left, I found myself sprinting the last .25 miles. I was pretty sure I had it when I crossed the finish line (although the official time said over 2:00, I knew my chip time was delayed). My Garmin actually showed I ran 13.25 miles.
I was so happy! I saw my family at the finish and they were so happy too! I've never had an experience like it. I really felt no pressure or nerves going into the race and I've never had such a good race (feeling wise).
Here are my splits (mostly so I can have them for myself)
Distance 13.25 miles
Average pace 9:01
Mile 1: 8:49
Mile 2: 8:58
Mile 3: 8:50
Mile 4: 8:56
Mile 5: 9:03
Mile 6: 9:06
Mile 7: 8:54
Mile 8: 9:25
Mile 9: 9:02
Mile 10: 9:14
Mile 11: 9:06
Mile 12: 9:19
Mile 13: 8:59
Mile .25: 6:56
Wow- 6:56 for the last quarter mile. Amazing.
I haven't run since Saturday. I'm hoping for a light run in the morning. I printed out a training schedule for the Princess. Only 15 weeks.
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