13 September 2009

Another item checked off the list

So I finished the half marathon - 2:28:26, an 11:20 pace. I'm actually quite pleased with this, even though I was hoping for more of an 10:30 pace. If I can stick with the 11:20 pace for the full marathon I'll be a very happy camper three weeks from now.

Some thoughts during the race:

At mile 2 - "there is no hill, there is no hill" Ugh - a nice incline but a good workout for TC since there's a hill at 2 there too.

Just before mile 3 - "Is it wrong to flip off a little old lady on a Sunday morning?" This lady yelled out as we were heading into a corner - "It's all downhill from here." And then started laughing. I was so pissed. To any of you spectators out there, please don't yell this. Runner's know their course and they know that it's never all downhill from that point (especially that early in the race). I mean if you want to say that at mile 26 of TC, go ahead because it IS all downhill, but any other time, this is just mean.

I had a bunch of other thoughts too, but most were fleeting. I met a few nice people along the way. Brad and Jane were running with me for awhile, but I let them go ahead of me after awhile. I like running with folks but I also like my solitude. The last 4 miles I ended up running with a guy who had initially hired my Boss1 years ago. That was fun to meet him. He was nice enough to let me finish 15 seconds in front of him, which was good since I was feeling pretty pathetic running with a 70 year old man.

So now I just need to keep moving so my legs don't cramp up. I'm not feeling too bad right now. Hoping to run a short 3 tomorrow just to keep everything limber.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think sometimes spectators just yell out things that are of absolutely no motivational help, and are at times actually deflating. In my first marathon the cheerleaders on the course around mile 21 were cheering, "Run Faster!" as I went by. I was thinking, "Seriously?! If I could, don't you think I would be going faster! Why don't you get out here and try running this instead of standing on the sidelines munching Chee-tos and yelling things at people!"

Nice work on the run, it was probably a good prep before the big show coming up!