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

Disney Half Marathon

Matt graciously held up the fort last weekend at home so that I could cross something off the bucket list. I flew to Florida last weekend with 2 friends to run the Disney half marathon and do a few days at Disney World.

At the airport Thursday night meeting the bus to take us to our resort.

Friday we went to Animal kingdom to check out the new Avatar land and ride the 2 new rides. We went to Flight of Passage first thing and probably waited about 45 minutes (no fast passes available). It is very comparable to Soarin', but I really enjoyed the feel of flying on a dragon and feeling the dragon breathe against my knees. Really cool! Though it did make us all queasy.

On Na'vi River Journey, which is a boat ride through Avatar land

The Safari ride is always a favorite

After lunch and the Lion King show, which neither of my friends had ever seen, we went to Asia to ride Expedition Everest.

We did the single rider line

pic taken on the ride

Meeting Pluto after finishing the Dinosaur ride

This tree is so detailed!

We left Animal Kingdom around 4pm in order to make it over to the Expo and pick up our race bibs.

The race start time was 5:30am, which in itself was shocking, especially taking into account the different time zone. We assumed we would need to wake up at 4, catch the bus at 4:30, then have an hour till the race started. Basically, all our assumptions about the race were completely off!

We learned that we needed to get in line for the bus by 3:30 am since there would be a huge crowd. Once we saw the line at our resort (which we tried to capture in this picture...you can see the bus in the distance and the line went that far back), we understood the reason for the 3:30 call. It took about an hour waiting for a bus + drive time to the race. Although the starting line was near Epcot and not far away from our resort, the traffic was bumper to bumper. 

So our alarms were set at 3am. We made sure to go to bed as early as we could Friday night. We were in bed by 8:30 and asleep by 9pm. I'm a pretty light sleep though, and a consistent noise woke me up at 1:22am. I tried in vain to get back to sleep and finally just read my book until the alarm went off at 3. :o(

Snapping a picture around 4:30am and trying to look awake.

Waiting in our corral for the race to begin.

SO. The race. Let me back up by saying that when you sign up for the race, you have to prove your running pace by providing a finisher time from a race in the last 2 years. My friends haven't run a race in the last 2 years so they were put in corral H, the last corral. My last half marathon time, surprisingly, qualified me for the first corral, corral A. The plan was to run the first half of the race with my friends at their pace (8:45/9 min. pace) so that we could stop and take a few pictures together either with characters or any other picturesque spots. Then I was going to pick up my pace and run the last half on my own. I had no way to know then that this was a significant sacrifice.

We didn't quite realize the sheer number of people that were there. Turns out that getting 21,000 people across a starting line takes some time. Who knew? As the minutes continued to tick by, we were shocked when 30 minutes passed, then 45. An hour later, we finally started our race. By that point, we were tired of standing (especially after doing a lot of standing/walking the day before), cranky, and tired. Why don't they stagger the start time for that many people?!?

The race crossed back on itself so that as we were passing mile 2, corral A runners were passing mile 11. Gah!

The other thing I just can't wrap my head around is why would anyone pay $100 for a half marathon just to walk the whole time? Why not pick a shorter distance to walk? Why 13? Well it turns out, lots and lots of people paid that much money to walk. Being the last corral, we were stuck behind so. many. walkers. And for some reason there wasn't either a stated or understood rule that runners are on the left and walkers are on the right. Every half marathon race I've run, I have spent the first half mile or so weaving around people as it is so congested starting out. That frustrating weaving was THIS ENTIRE RACE!! We were surrounded by walkers and slow joggers and therefore couldn't run together and chat comfortably as someone was leading the way through the weaving. It was so frustrating. I especially felt bad for my friends who set a goal to run the race under 2 hours. Ain't no way that was going to happen! Honestly, I had higher expectations from Disney. Start times should have been staggered, all walkers should have been in the last corral, there should have been a rule stated about walkers to the right, and there were too many narrow running places that made it even more congested than it was.

Positives: It was fun to see so many runners (and walkers) dressed up for the race. There were some crazy costumes! There were about 6-7 characters along the race that you could stop and take pictures with, though Jack Sparrow was the only one I was tempted to stop for. (The rest were old Disney characters and no princesses.) The course was mostly flat--just a few hills.

#1 lesson learned: Don't sign up for a Disney race unless you have a previous race to prove your start time. We have a friend who has run it before in corral C who said she had a great experience. Walkers moved to the right, and she didn't have to do much weaving.

Stopping for a picture in front of the castle in Magic Kingdom around mile 5. It was neat to run through the castle. 

All done with the race!

This half marathon pace was my slowest ever. I averaged 10:08 minute miles. Different muscles hurt from all the weaving and running through grass/dirt trying to pass the walkers on the road. 

The weather was unusually warm for January in Florida. The starting temperature was 70 degrees and warmed up from there as the sun came up. I felt bad that my friend, Katie, had her leg seize up weirdly for the last mile or two. She said it hurt worse to walk, so she ran through the pain and immediately went to First Aid after crossing the finish line to get it looked at and iced up. Fortunately, the pain went away, and her leg didn't bother her the rest of the day.

Our agenda for the rest of the day was Hollywood Studios including our first fast pass window from 9:45 to 10:45am. We thought that was plenty of time to run the race from 5:30 to 7:30, go home and shower, eat breakfast, and then be at the park by 9:30. Considering we didn't finish the race until 9am, we missed our fast pass to Rockin' Rollercoaster and another fast pass was not available for the rest of the day. :(

After we showered and ate a few race snacks, we actually decided to take a nap. Our next fast pass wasn't until 12:30, so we figured we might as well get a nap in and then just stay until the park closed at 8pm. After an hour nap, we grabbed a real meal and then headed to the park.

Riding the new Skyliner transportation to Hollywood Studios

It was pretty cool!

Tower of Terror

Checking out the new Star Wars land. We were only able to ride 1 of the 2 new Star Wars rides. The passes were all gone for Millennium Falcon by the time we got to the park at 12:30. 

About to ride Slinky Dog Dash. Very smooth roller coaster and a lot of fun.

Visiting Olaf

We stayed for the fireworks show at the end, then headed back to our resort. 

The Disney Resort we stayed at was Pop Century. Our room was basic, but we loved all the fun decorations around the resort.

My legs were so tired after this weekend from the standing/running/walking. It was such a fun and memorable trip though, and I'm glad I got to hang out with these fun gals and get to know them better!

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

Half Marathon #7

My good friend, Laisa, and her sister-in-law

March 4, 2017 was race day! Last year I was so close to my Personal Record that I knew I was going to beat it this year provided nothing went awry during the race. The weather showed a chance of rain but besides some light sprinkling at the starting line, the rain held off.  The race atmosphere always helps me push myself harder and my finishing time was 1:41:44 or a 7:46 pace per mile! My goal was to be under an 8-minute mile so I crushed it. I finished 9^th in my age division out of 281. My overall finishing rank was 251/3437, which doesn’t sound as impressive. I am always so grateful when I feel well during a run because so many things can go wrong. I did have some shin splints for the first two miles, but I was also going pretty fast getting around people, and mile 11 my stomach hurt but both problems thankfully went away so I could finish strong. I missed my Mom and Dad at the finish line (on a mission), but it was fun to see my family [briefly before they took off for Caleb's baseball game] and my sister's family who came out to support my brother-in-law, Zane. It was his first half marathon!

Other stats:

I averaged 7:39 for the first 6 miles.

My fastest mile was 7:27 and slowest mile was 7:53. 

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

Half Marathon No. 6

As I have done after having all my babies, I signed up for a half marathon race to force myself to bounce back quickly. 3 weeks after baby #4, I set out for an easy 1-2 mile run. I ended up running 3 miles at a 9:35 pace because I felt great! (Perk to running throughout my pregnancy) I set a goal to run my half marathon at an 8:30 pace knowing that would be stretching my capabilities since the race was 6 months post baby.

This time training, I particularly struggled with pushing myself past 3 miles; I was content to stay at that distance. As I started adding on the miles, my speed wasn't improving very much at all. 2 months out from the race, I was running 8:55 miles for my long runs. I reluctantly admitted to myself that an 8:30 pace wasn't an attainable goal and 8:45 was more realistic, though it made me really sad.

I continued to trust the training process and push myself on my speed days (Tuesdays). Week by week, I started shaving off time pretty dramatically. I was afraid to be too hopeful. 3 weeks out from the race, I ran the whole 13.1 miles to gauge how I would perform for the race and I ran it at an 8:23 pace! I hoped to perform as well or better on race day.

There is so much anxiety leading up to the race...will I eat the right food the night before that settles well? Will I experience some unexpected cramping? Will I injure myself? Will the weather be right? etc. All the stars aligned, and I was able to have a terrific run! My finishing time was 1:49:32 or an 8:21 pace. I finished #27 in my age group (30-35) and #136 overall (out of 1800 runners). My Personal Record is 1:48:05 in 2012 when I was 5 weeks pregnant with Bryson. Fastest mile was the last at 7:45 and slowest mile was 8:35.

Most annoying part of the race: My shoe came untied at mile 5, again at mile 8, and again at mile 12. I just left it untied at that point because I didn't have the energy to bend down and stand back up again!

The thing I regret most about the race: what I wore! I planned to wear shorts and a running shirt when the temperature was predicted to be 54-57 degrees. Throughout the week, the predicted temperature kept dropping. When I saw that the morning was going to start around 45 degrees, I wore long pants and a jacket that I knew I would remove. I should have stuck with my original plan and toughed out the pre-race waiting in the cold.

2 Tender Mercies: #1 Austin slept through the night for the first time the night before the race. He typically will wake up once per night around 4 am. I knew if he did that that I would have a difficult time going back to bed for an hour with pre-race jitters. At 5 am, I went up to wake him and feed him. He was laying in his bed awake playing with his stuffed giraffe! I was so grateful for the uninterrupted sleep!
#2 I didn't have to stop during the race for bathroom troubles that I typically have. When I run long distances, it just tends to get my digestive system a movin' and a groovin'!

It was so fun to see my parents at the race and have their support. They were waiting at the finish line, but I also saw them at the last half mile. I was already giving everything I had at that point in the race; when I saw them, I had the energy to give a little more! Matt + boys got there just after I crossed the finish line, but I was grateful to have them there as well.

I love running! I love the way it makes me feel, I love the challenge of pushing myself to improve, and I love seeing what the body can accomplish. What an amazing feat to be so close to my PR 6 months after having a baby!! I was super proud of what I accomplished. :)

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)

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

*Just as a side-note, it is so tricky to work breastfeeding in before and after running a race!

Half Marathon No. 5

I signed up for my 5th half marathon when I was about 8 months pregnant, knowing I'd be four months out from having a baby when I actually ran the race.  I knew it was going to be a stretch to be trained and ready in time, but I also thought it would be a great way to get back in shape quickly!  During my training, I was finally able to get down to running 9-minute miles consistently on my long runs.  (Speed training makes all the difference in the world!)  This in and of itself was a huge accomplishment considering that when I started up running again after Bryson, I was running over ten-minute miles.  (This is my least favorite part about being pregnant: all the hard work of getting in shape previously goes out the window and you start from square one after giving birth.  Totally worth it to have my 3 boys though!)

I ran this exact race last year and was able to get my personal best of 1:48:05 averaging 8:15-minute miles.  Every single half marathon I have run in the past, I've been able to get a PR (personal record), so I had to accept the fact that this wasn't going to happen this time around.  3 weeks before the race, I ran 13.1 miles in 1:58:00 or 9:01 miles, so my goal was to beat this time.

It was very tricky Saturday morning to work everything out with nursing Bryson.  He is capable of sleeping through the night and has done so in the past, but for the last week he has been waking up once a night again.  I think he's going through a growth spurt.  So I was up at 4 am feeding Bryson, then went back to sleep for an hour before getting up for real to get ready for the race.  We got to the race site at 6:30 am for the 7am start.  I nursed Bryson again then ate some Gel Bloks to get my energy up.  (I wonder how much nursing affects energy during long distance running?)

Carter, Mommy, and Caleb before the race

It was a very cold morning.  I'm not sure the actual temperature, but an online weather site predicted 38 degrees at 7 am and 43 degrees at 9am when I would be finished.  Granted that's not super cold, but it was windy on top of that so we all had to dress snug and warm.  I should have left my hat with Matt before the race because I shed it after mile 1, my gloves came off after mile 4, and my jacket came off around mile 10.  It was annoying to have to carry my hat and gloves the whole time. (I put my gloves in my hat.)

My slowest mile was mile 9 at 9:02, and my fastest mile was mile 13 at 8:16.  I averaged 8:44 miles and finished at 1:54:18.  I was very proud of this time.  The racing atmosphere always helps me push myself harder than I think I'm capable.  I had my fair share of aches and pains though.  Because I had to speed up the training process in order to be ready in time, my hamstrings and gluteals have hurt throughout the training process after my long runs, particularly on the right side.  So today after pushing my body so hard yesterday, I am favoring my right side and limping a bit (as well as all day yesterday).  During mile 12 I noticed my left knee was throbbing, probably because I was starting to pick up the pace quite a bit.  My running curse is that I generally have to stop at least once during my long runs in order to use the bathroom.  I have only completed one race where I didn't have to stop to use the porta potties (super gross!) and that was last year's race where I got my best time ever.  I'm always trying new things to figure out how to solve the issue, but I always plan my long runs close to home so I can stop as needed.  It's so frustrating during a race because the time I cross the finish line is not accurate to what I actually ran.  I'm grateful for the investment into my Garmin a few years back!  Enough about that though.

About to cross the finish line.  I'm sprinting at a 6:41 pace at this point.

We forgot to take pictures immediately after the race.  I had to quickly pick up my shirt and the food they provide for runners, then we dashed home so I could quickly shower and nurse Bryson.

My boys who are so supportive of Mommy and her running.  

Of course my biggest supporter is Matt who sometimes had to go into work early so he could get home a little early or leave late and get home later to accommodate my training schedule.  And race day is always tricky with waking up early and then dealing with the kids while I'm running.  I so appreciate his support even though he thinks running is dumb.  He enjoys running only if he's chasing down a Frisbee. :o)

It meant SO much to me to have my mom there for this race to cheer me on.  It was quite cold and there were tons of people there so parking is tricky and it's hard to actually see the runner you're cheering for--not fun conditions.  When running in a race though, it makes all the difference in the world knowing that someone is cheering for you and will be there at the end!  It definitely helps me push myself harder.  I know Matt appreciated the extra hand with the boys while waiting for me to finish as well.

Half Marathon No. 4

Today I completed my 4th half marathon. Having done a marathon, I am grateful to finish the race at 13.1 miles. 26.2 was so taxing on my body and quite time-consuming. I love that my body doesn't feel dead after a half marathon, but 13 miles is still enough of a stretch that it's something to work towards.

My last half marathon time was 1:52:13 or an 8:34 mile pace. My goal each time I run a half is to improve on my previous time. 3 weeks ago when I ran the distance of a half marathon, I finished in 1:49 so I was only praying that I could do as well today. Today I had the run I've always longed for but have never had. Between cramping or bathroom issues, something has always come up to prevent me having a really good run on race day. So in the past I have been disappointed with the race simply because I knew that I could have done better. Today, I felt so good almost the entire time. Around mile 10 I started having some side cramps so that mile was my slowest at 8:32. My fastest miles were #1 at 7:55 and mile #12 at 7:05. My overall average was 8:15 mile pace and I finished at 1:48:05. I felt really good after finishing and definitely could have continued running for a little longer. I felt good enough to play doubles tennis for 2 hours an hour after I finished!

While I was running, the kids were having a great time doing some of this:

waiting in line to get on the inflatable slide,

hugging this dog,

and following this cookie around. (Carter kept saying, "cookie, cookie.")

After the race. (Matt didn't get any pictures of me running.)

It was such a thrilling day knowing that I had such an awesome race. I've never run that fast for that many miles ever! Running is so invigorating, and as always I'm so grateful for my husband's support in this "crazy" thing I love, according to him.

Huntsville Half Marathon

I ran my third half marathon yesterday morning. The morning started early as we made the drive to the race. We were all sleepy and a bit cranky (Carter was very cranky) as we didn't get to bed as early as I would have liked due to circumstances outside of our control. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful morning at a cool 65 degrees--perfect. My goal each time I run a race is to improve my previous time so I set out to run an 8:45 mile pace, but I didn't know how the numerous hills would affect me. Not all the hills were steep, but there were at least two steep ones and all the hills were definitely more of an incline than I ever run on my regular routes. The lowest elevation was 357 feet and the highest elevation was 490 feet during the half marathon course. Our good friends, the Burches, were there with us again for this half marathon. I'm so proud of Jacob who swore after the Galveston Half that he would never run a half marathon again. Not only did he run it again, but I believe he smoked his time from the Galveston run!

Here we are with a thumbs up ready to run the race.

This week we got a Garmin to help me track my runs. It's expensive, but amazing! I love being able to see what pace I'm running at any glance of the watch. I can see my mileage, set a pace guy to run with, see calories burned, etc. And I love being able to analyze the data afterwards on my computer. Love it! I've always clocked my regular running routes with my car, so I could not deviate from my routes if I wanted to know how far I ran and thus be able to calculate my average running pace. Clocking the mileage with my car, needless to say, is not the most accurate. (One of my loops that I do my car clocked at 1.1 miles and my Garmin clocked at 1.05 which makes a difference when I'm running long distances.) It's just nice to know and to be able to run any direction I feel like and my Garmin will clock it. Have I mentioned yet that I love it?

Anyway, the race course was two 6.55 mile loops. (So those two steep hills I mentioned previously I had to run twice making it 4 steep hills.) The first half I ran really well and surprised even myself that I was doing so well. My slowest mile in the first half was 8:35 and fastest was an 8:14. The hills didn't bother me too much because the downhill more than made up for the uphill I thought. The second half of the race was a little harder. The hills seemed more unbearable. By mile 11 the downhills hurt more than the uphills because momentum would carry my body faster than I was able to go at that point. The second half of the race my fastest mile was an 8:23 and my slowest mile was a 9:11.

Here I am sprinting at the finish.

I was so pleased with the final results! According to my Garmin, my average pace was an 8:34 minute-mile which put me finishing 13.1 miles at 1:52:13. I knocked 5 minutes off last year's half marathon time. That is a significant improvement, and I'm finally out of the rut of running 9-minute miles! Running is invigorating, and I love seeing improvement. As always, a big thank you to the support of my husband who had to deal with two cranky boys for the two hours that I ran.

After the race

The best picture of me and my boys. Caleb is unable to look at the camera for a picture these days.

Running Update

A year ago at this time, I was training for a marathon. Carter was 6 months old, and I had been training for 2 months already. It was definitely difficult to work the training around nursing, but it felt invigorating to seriously train again after taking a 6 week break when Carter was born and doing some light running to try to get back in shape. Since my marathon on January 1st of this year, I haven't run any other races, but I have kept up the running to around 6 miles. Since the money can add up to run a lot of races, I didn't plan on running another race until November. I planned to run the Galveston half marathon again this year since I enjoyed the run last year along the Seawall looking out at the ocean. Unfortunately it was cancelled. The next half marathon race I was aware of nearby wasn't until March. I was kind of bummed. It's fun to work towards a race, but March was too far off.

A few days ago, I learned of a half marathon coming up in 3 weeks about 45-60 minutes away. Today I ran 13.1 miles to make sure I could do it, then I signed up. It's a month sooner than the Galveston race I was planning on, which cuts my training short. There's more I still want to do to shave minutes off my time, but I'll just have to make do.

I have made great strides in improving my running times. I've been able to run up to 6 miles in 8:45-9:00 minute-miles depending on the day while pushing my kids in a double running stroller. Today's 13.1 mile time was 1:54:35, 3 minutes faster than my half marathon last November, and the last mile was pushing the stroller as Matt had to be somewhere. The pace was 8:45-minute-miles. I'm hoping to run just as well in 3 weeks if not faster. The number one thing that might get in the way? Hills. The half marathon I signed up for I haven't considered in the past due to the hills. There are 2 large hills and other mild hills throughout the race. There are not many hills to train on around here that are close, so I have not done much hill training. In the next 3 weeks, I hope I can get a chance to run some hills but will have the difficulties of time (the closest hills are 20 minutes away so that's 40 minutes of driving time) and having to push my kiddos in the stroller. It's exciting to have a race on the calendar though and to have a time frame to push myself harder. Races have such a fun atmosphere, and I'm looking forward to it!

Half Marathon #2

Saturday, November 20th, I ran my second half marathon. It was a year and a half after the first and one baby later. My goal was to beat my time from last year, which was 1:58:45, or slightly over a 9-minute-mile pace. I was able to keep a steady 8:45 pace for the first 5 miles, and even ran an 8:30 on one of those miles. At mile 6, a side cramp hit me, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up this pace for the rest of the race. I ended up finishing in 1:57:47. I was actually disappointed when I crossed the finish line because I remembered my time wrong from last year's race and thought that I hadn't beat it. I was still hoping to shave off more time, but it does feel good to have beat my time, even if it was just a minute. I finished 16 out of 122 in my class (Females ages 25-29) with 8:59-minute-miles.

It was interesting to compare last year's race and this year's. Last year I trained completely on my own and did a little reading up on taking care of my body as I trained, but not much. Fellow runners don't believe me when I say this, but I did all my training, including the actual race, without drinking water as I ran. I would drink some water before and after. I've learned since that you should be drinking water at least every 15 minutes while you run. I also didn't eat before my runs during my training. I heard late in my training that eating a banana before you run is supposed to help with energy, so I started doing that a couple of weeks before my race, including race day. During my actual race last year, every time someone I ran with stopped for water, I would think in my head "sucker, I'm going to pass you up." I've also learned about some energy gels that most runners take while running since my first race. I didn't do any of that last year. Interestingly enough, I had energy throughout the whole run, and I felt great and rejuvenated after I finished the race.

This year I am training with a group where they have seminars every other week with running tips etc. So being wiser, this time I stopped at all of the water/gatorade stations except 2 (spaced out every 1.5 miles). I switched off between drinking water and gatorade. I felt like all the water stations actually slowed me down, so my next competitive race I'll probably carry water on me. I still didn't use any energy gels, but I will for my marathon. After I finished this race, I felt like I was going to puke, and I wanted to just lie down and die. And I only beat last year's time by a minute. Hmmmm. Maybe the experts don't know what they're talking about. :o)

After I finished, I couldn't even imagine running an additional 13 miles on top of what I just did. I began to have thoughts of giving up on my marathon goal. After some more time, I decided that running a marathon is doable, just not at the pace that I ran my half. My full marathon is 4 weeks away. I have the dreaded 21 mile run next Saturday, which hopefully will be more enjoyable as I listen to a book on tape. My main goal for my full marathon is to finish. I'm going to have no time expectations whatsoever. I also want to run the entire thing, but I never know how my body will be feeling and a walking break or two may be needed.

At the start of the race, Caleb and Matt looking on as I took off.

Carter, still in his p.j.s, watching from his stroller.

This is about mile 9. I had just seen Matt and the kids, which gave me a boost of energy. The race was along the Galveston Sea Wall, which was great scenery.

To pass the time, Caleb, Matt and Carter played on the beach chasing birds.

We went to Galveston with some friends, Jacob and Kim. Jacob ran the race as well. Here is Caleb about to give Jacob a high 5.

Afte the race. (I was feeling much better by this point.)

Me and Jacob before the race. We had to carry our bib numbers because they ran out of safety pins! Lame. Even though I had registered early, they ran out of the t-shirt size I requested (Medium) as well. All they had left were XS, which I won't fit into until I lose 10 lbs. (highly unlikely). Double Lame.

After the race with our medals.