Half Marathon #8

I struggled this year in my training for my half marathon, which was completely frustrating since I didn't have a pregnancy or nursing to blame it on. I was not confident at all that I would PR this time and really couldn't pinpoint it on anything other than maybe my metabolism possibly changing. The last 6 months I've felt like if I even look at a dessert I put on a pound. Even though I tried to be disciplined in my eating leading up to the race, I had put on about 4 pounds that refused to come off and I felt like that was enough to make a difference in my running times. I just struggled with pushing myself to go faster in my speed training! Despite the fact that I was running between 5 and 10 seconds slower per mile on my long runs than my pace from last year, I kept my fingers crossed that the race atmosphere would push me harder.

Due to the crowd of trying to get around runners during the first mile, it was my slowest mile at 7:58. My fastest mile was mile 13 at a 7:27 pace. Overall I averaged a 7:45 mile pace, beating my time from last year by 20 seconds. It's not a good showing for a year of work, but I am so grateful that God is in the small details in our lives: the amazing weather and that I was able to have a great run despite not feeling confident this year. 

Past races:
Half Marathon #1 (2009) 1:58:45
Half Marathon #2 (2010) 1:57:47 (8 months post baby)
Half Marathon #3 (2011) 1:52:13
Half Marathon #4 (2012) 1:48:05
Half Marathon #5 (2013) 1:54:18 (4 months post baby)
Half Marathon #6 (2016) 1:49:32 (6 months post baby)
Half Marathon #7 (2017) 1:41:44
Half Marathon #8 (2018) 1:41:26

Marathon #1 (2011) 4:28:34
Marathon #2 (2014) 3:58:08