Say What?

I ran a 1/2 marathon on Saturday.  I have run 2 other 1/2 marathons and one full, and I usually run them pretty conservatively. I don't start out too fast because I don't want to get burned out at mile 10.  I have been training almost a minute faster per mile for this race (I didn't train faster on purpose, it just all of a sudden started taking me less time to run my daily runs).  I was really nervous for this race because I wanted to see what I had in me. I wanted to see just how fast I could go, but I didn't want to go too fast at the beginning that I slowed way down at the end.  I did some researching of the results of this particular 1/2 marathon from last year and I knew that if I ran it in 1:45 I would be somewhere in 6th ish place for my age division.  So, my secret goal was 1:45 but I didn't vocalize it because I didn't know if I could really do it. That is pretty fast, and would definitely be faster than I have ever run before.  So when people asked me I said I wanted to do it in under 1:55 (because that was my  best time so far).

I knew I had to start fast from the get go or I really wouldn't have a chance to even get less than 1:55.  So I started out fast. There was a lot of downhill and I took advantage of each down hill to help propel me forward even when it flattened out.  There weren't pacers in this race and I don't wear a watch so I had no idea how fast I was going. I heard one guy say as I was passing him that when they came out of the shoot (crossed the start line) they were doing a 7:30 (per mile), but I figured they had slowed way down so the fact that I was passing them made me think I was doing something around 8:00 or 8:30.  I kept pushing it and around mile 11 I was starting to feel like I was slowing down.  I knew I couldn't give up this close to the end so I started my self-talk, you know, "you're strong" "you can do it" "i'm not in pain."  The last .2 miles of the race were on the track at Snow Canyon High School.  I came around the last bend and I could see my dear Watson cheering me on.  I expected to see 1:50 on the clock, so imagine my surprise when it said 1:38.  I screamed to my dear Watson and pointed at the clock! 1:38!!! Somehow I found it in me to sprint to the finish line. At least I think I sprinted.

I had a feeling that I could be anywhere from 3rd to 5th place in my age division, so I checked the results but they hadn't printed the 3rd place winner yet.....that was good news!  When they finally printed it I ended up coming in 4th place, just a mere 10 seconds behind the 3rd place girl. 10 seconds?? If I would have known that I totally would have passed her...I could have taken home a trophy to commemorate my best run ever.  I was doing on average 7:34 miles...for 13.1 miles.

I was shocked and amazed and really grateful that I was able to push myself and be so successful.  It was hard and I haven't felt this sore since I ran a marathon--I usually don't feel too sore after a 1/2. Seriously, my body is paying for it, but it's just a reminder that I reached -- no---surpassed a really tough goal.

Why do I always make the ugliest faces while I'm running.  This is where I'm pointing to the clock and yelling at my dear Watson to look at the time. 

We were Barney and Betty Rubble for Halloween. 

It was Jenny BF's birthday last week so I made her some home made marshmallows. She likes mallows so I made them extra special.

I packaged them up like this and shipped them to Athens, Georgia, not Greece.  I'm not sure what 4 days in the mail did to them but Jenny seemed to like em anyway!