Half Marathon #10

I dreaded my race this year and didn't enjoy the training. Maybe it's the getting older and my metabolism changing, but even though I did my "tried and true" method of improving speed, it didn't help. During my training, I averaged 7:55-8 minute miles for my long runs. Over the summer of 2019, I trained with a sweet college girl who got a scholarship at BYU for her incredible long-distance running. She would run 3 miles with me on Thursdays and pace me at 7:20-7:30 miles for my tempo runs. While I'm sure it was difficult for her to go so slow, Thursday mornings were my nemesis because of how hard it was! She always stayed within in a body's distance in front of me, and if she ever saw the distance between us increasing, she would hold out her hand with the assumption that I was supposed to catch her and tag her hand. Every time she did that made me so angry! :) That's what I needed to improve my speed, however: someone to push me. Unfortunately for me, she took off to college, and while I still tried to push myself at 7:30 miles, the best I was doing on my own was 7:45. I did some hill training occasionally on a tread mill because I know that's another method of improving speed. I also continued my speed training on Tuesdays. What it came down to was my heart wasn't in it anymore. I no longer was willing to put the work in to try to improve my personal record of 7:45 miles for the half marathon distance. The thing that probably would have made a difference was changing and improving my eating habits. My mantra has always been that I run to eat though. I enjoy good food and use running to keep a balance. So I went into this half marathon knowing it was going to be last; my passion for the distance has just fizzled out. 12 long-distance races is a good number to round out 11 years of running distance though. I wanted to push myself hard for this race but knew it was highly unlikely that I would PR. I set a goal to keep my time under 8-minute miles.

Race morning I was up at 5:00 am. My sweet friend, Natalie, signed up for the race too. She also went through the same emotions of feeling burnt-out and done; she felt this was going to be her last race as well. We trained a little bit together, but our paces are different. It was fun to carpool to the race together and chat for over an hour until the race started.

Sunrise in the background

Minutes before the race started. It was 47 degrees and we were in shorts and t-shirts, so we were pretty chilly waiting like that for 45 minutes in our corral for the race to start.

I finished the race in 1 hour 44 minutes and 24 seconds at 7:58-minute miles. (My watch actually clocked me with a slightly faster finishing time and a 7:56 pace.) I was happy with the result, and so grateful that the race went well! Always a tender mercy.

It's crazy to look back over the last decade. I set a goal to run my first half marathon in 2009. Prior to that I had only run 3 miles 3-4 times per week to stay in shape. After I set the goal, I couldn't find a race anywhere near that wasn't on Sunday! Fortunately surrounding race sites started doing Saturday races the following year. My first race was a longer drive though and an earlier start for the whole family (only Caleb at the time) as there weren't any Saturday races locally. I finished the race in under 2 hours (pretty impressive for my first one!) and felt so invigorated. I still remember finishing that race alongside another woman around my age who had trained for 3 years to get the same time I got on my first race. It's fun to reflect back on each race and remember how tricky it was to run post-baby while nursing. Running during the breast-feeding stage adds a whole new set of complications that I had to work around during my training and races. My 2013 race was when Bryson was 4 months old. I remember being so grateful that he woke up at 4am that morning to nurse when he usually woke up around 6am. I was so stressed about whether I would be able to nurse him before my race or need to pump so I wouldn't be full with milk during my race. Issues that most people don't have to think about! After running my first marathon for 4 1/2 hours, the first thing I did after I finished? Go into the car (sweaty) and nurse Carter who was 9 months old. Maybe there might have been a few other women in my boat, but I always felt like I deserved an extra pat on the back for juggling that. Good memories and such great life lessons/applications! I'm excited to continue running, but I'll keep my long runs around 8 miles on Saturday. I'm ready to close this chapter and move onto a new adventure. My friend, Laisa, has put a bug in my ear the last few months about giving triathlons a try. We shall see!

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
Marathon #1 (2011) 4:28:34
Half Marathon #4 (2012) 1:48:05 (5 weeks pregnant)
Half Marathon #5 (2013) 1:54:18 (4 months post baby)
Marathon #2 (2014) 3:58:08
Half Marathon #6 (2016) 1:49:32 (6 months post baby)
Half Marathon #7 (2017) 1:41:44 (7:46 pace)
Half Marathon #8 (2018) 1:41:26 (7:45 pace--personal record)
Half Marathon #9 (Jan. 2020) Disney Half--my worst time ever!
Half Marathon #10 (Mar. 2020) 1:44:24