This morning I ran the Flat Half Marathon out at Sauvie Island. I ran this in 2003 but it was a much smaller race that year. This year's event included a full marathon as well as a half marathon for walkers. Friends and I ran the half marathon. I knew it was going to be a good race for everyone and that there would be many PRs. I think every one of us got a PR today. The weather was perfect for running and the course is super flat.I haven't seen official chip times yet, but by my watch I finished in 1:54:40 (in 2003, I finished in 2:32 -- full sun and a hot day made for slow conditions!). Not a huge distance PR for me (I finished the Race for the Roses Half Marathon in April this year around 1:57), but it's still a PR and I'm happy to have run under the 1:55 mark. Maybe next time I'll go under 1:50. I knew my friends would all finish somewhere around 1:45 to 1:50 so I had planned to stay with them as long as I could, but they were ahead of me after half a mile. I passed the 4 mile mark in 33 minutes and knew I needed to slow it down. The 7 mile mark was passed in 58 minutes flat. Not slow enough. I knew there was no way I could maintain that pace and after mile 10 I began to incorporate some short walk breaks. It was a tough finish, but it felt awesome knowing I had a new half marathon PR. Also, the plus to finishing after all your friends is that everyone is there waiting for you!
M and our little guy were at the finish (along with other spouses and babies) and we all sat in the grass and ate some island strawberry shortcake. It was a great way to stretch, catch my breath and enjoy the start of a nice 4th of July day.
This run ends my streak of races this year. Since the baby was born last May, I have run a 10K, a 15K, four half marathons and a full marathon. My times have greatly improved over the last year and though I plan to continue running in the coming months, my mileage will likely decrease. I'm playing things by ear, but I have no other races planned at this point for 2006. Just lots of good easy runs for awhile...
[ETA: Official chip time of 1:54:21 for an average mile of 8:43. I finished #161 out of 506 total females and #35 out of 107 in my age group. I'm very pleased.]
4 comments:
Hi Cherl, I know you are probably in the middle of posting, but I wanted to say hello! I am so glad you found me today, I only wish we could have found you again. I needed someone to keep me going. :-) I am so glad we both PR'd today. What a beautiful day and course. What did you think of it overall? What are your running plans from here?
I am so happy to have finally met you! I think it is fun that the first time we "met" was in the middle of a race. It is nice to be able to put a face with a blog. I'm glad you had such a good race. I feel great about how it went for me, too. Thank heavens for the good weather and the flat course!
Wow! I am so impressed!
That was a great race! So much fun to hit a PR. I enjoyed seeing you and T. I had a slow start to the race and seeing you up ahead was inspirational. Julie R. is just a speed demon now...and she looks fabulous! I'm doing the weekend run on Sunday if you'd like to join, don't recall where it's from this time but can check.
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