racing

Well, I did it: I ran my second half-marathon last weekend. It was a good race but it was quite challenging. I can’t help but have mixed feelings about it ~ this time around, the whole process was done in comparison with last year. It was so much hotter this year when I had to train, and I was so much busier with traveling, and I was a bit more lax about strictly following a training plan, since I’d already done one race. On the plus side, I felt much less pain following my long runs this year. And I was training at a pace about 10 – 20 seconds per mile faster than I did last year.

Unfortunately, this did not translate to a faster race time. I was actually running quite well all the way through the first 10 miles… but then I kind of sputtered out at the end. I guess I started off too fast, and also probably the disruptions to my training schedule did not help me ~ I started feeling some exhaustion around mile 10 and only managed to push myself to about 12.5 miles before I ended up walking. I knew that I was so close to the finish, but I could not find the energy inside to push on to run any more… at least not until I saw Steve at the last bend, where he so nicely came to cheer for me after he’d finished his own race. Funny how motivating it is to have that one person in the crowd cheering you on to the home stretch. Anyway it turns out that my time was 4 minutes slower than last year, but hey, at least I did it. I’m trying not to be too disappointed! I did know going in that because of all the heat and traveling and job hunting stress that my training wasn’t what it could have been, and didn’t have super high expectations.. but still, after having a better-than-expected time at the 10 mile mark, it’s hard not to be a bit bummed that the last half mile did me in.

[race number + finishers medal, along with my trusty i-pod and an extra energy gel. I'm a big fan of the extra boost from favorite tunes and gu!]

In any case, I’m still glad that I did it. And very proud of Steve for finishing his first half marathon, and at 30 seconds under his goal time no less! We celebrated with friends at a Brazilian steak house. And I have to say that I am so happy to be done with training! It was kind of stressful this year ~ again, I’m glad that I did it, because if I wasn’t registered for the race I’m sure that I would have slacked off on my exercise routine. However I find that I have absolutely zero desire to run right now. I tried today ~ and only made it one mile. Yikes! Hopefully I just need a break, and I’d like to add some new things to my exercise routine.. maybe some biking or new classes at the gym. And eventually I will get back to running, I hope.. if nothing else, Steve may have found the perfect way to motivate me to do another race ~ he found a “hot chocolate run” in November which consists of a 15K race followed by a chocolate buffet! What can I say, chocolate is my weakness… if it motivates me to run again, I’ll take it!