Well, just ONE more itty bitty teeny weeny blog about the RAK 1/2 marathon, which I ran this morning :-) But first, a brief (I promise!) background to my 1/2 marathon running. I jumped into 1/2 marathons in the early 2000's. I think I only did maybe 1-2 before I went straight to marathons. Anyhoo, from the first marathon when I got 1:48 (which was decent for a 1st 1/2 marathon), it has been stuck there for over a decade. I am NOT joking when I say I've done more than 20 1/2 marathons AND that 90% of them have majority been 1:48's and a few sprinkles of 1:47. Some I have really trained for or been in good condition (tri's or marathons)... others have been totally out of shape, but yet, there it was - around 1:48. It's honestly been soooooooooooooo long that I've broken that hump, at least a decade, that I am vaguely remembering even what my best time is.... I think I want to say upper 1:44? I think I want to say it was when I was heavily training for a 1/2 ironman, which is in August, and the Chicago 1/2 Marathon was in Sept, and I just was in peak condition. But fast forward a decade, and that dreaded time has been stuck.
Soo.... now it is 2014, I just ran my BEST marathon time just 3 weeks ago and going into this 1/2 marathon, there were 2 schools of thought:
1. I'm still in good condition from the marathon and this RAK 1/2 marathon is flat and fast and many people get their best time (PR (personal record) in North America, PB (best time) in Europe and Western countries).
2. My body may feel rested, but it is still recovering from the marathon, whether I realize it or not, and may get a bad time.
Hmm.... what to think? To be honest, I was fighting a small cold this week, have felt REALLY heavy these past 2 weeks (okay, I have gotten a wee bit sloppy with eating), and basically told myself, "anything around 1:45, I'll be happy." For some reason I was fairly confident I would surpass my "usual" time.
Race day comes, and now it is over and.... I DID IT! I ran a 1:44:12! My best time!!!
Feb14
Times & Results (in detail)
| Distance: | Half Marathon |
| Start Time (Official/Gun Time): | 07:24:03 |
| Start Time (Personal/Net Time): | 07:25:21 |
| Overall Pace: | 4.94 min/km  |
| Overall Speed: | 12.15 km/h |
| Categories: | n/a |
| Finish Time / Position (Gross): | 01:45:30 (422) |
| Finish Time / Position (Net): | 01:44:12 (426) |
| Gender Position (Gross): | 66 |
| Gender Position (Net): | 66 |
Split Points
| Split Point | Intermediate Time | Split Time | Pace | Speed | |
| 5K | n/a | 00:24:59 | 5.00 min/km | 12.01 km/h |  |
| 10K | n/a | 00:24:55 | 4.98 min/km | 12.04 km/h | |
| 15K | n/a | 00:24:43 | 4.94 min/km | 12.14 km/h | |
| 20K | n/a | 00:24:24 | 4.88 min/km | 12.30 km/h |  |
Hope the above came out okay! Well, the main point being, were my AWESOME split times! I was pretty pleased with the marathon when I was within 9 seconds from my 1st half to my 2nd half. But this is sooo spot on a "great" race, I still can't believe it! 1st leg slowest, a steady increase till the last leg? How awesome is that? Funny thing was when I was running I may not have realized it (again, running without a watch) how steady I was going, but I happen to have a couple of followers! During and after the race, runners approached me saying how awesome my pace was and how spot on I was with pacing. Really? One guy was almost beside himself thanking me for pacing him so well. Gee, thanks! It would have been nice to pace someone myself!! But anyhoo, VERY VERY pleased! I felt strong the whole way and was vaguely looking at my TIMEX and could see I was just at about 5 min, that's all I cared about - no drastic changes. We had a 20+ min delay in start (booooooooooooooooo!) and that kind of was a drag because it was chilly and felt cold the first couple of km (I know, I know... when I say it was "chilly" in the morning, I mean the 50's, he he). Because my legs felt sooo relaxed (as it has the last couple of weeks), again, just made a point of starting off comfortable (not too slow or too fast) and told myself to make little incremental increases. 1/3 of the way I felt awesome - was even thinking how much I loved running and what a great sport it is - mentally and physically. Kept my mental edge the whole way, especially those lulls between km's. Which, speaking of, I have to admit, I kinda like having these runs here being in km - goes so much quicker!!!
Anyhoo, pretty much finished then ran to catch my friend to get home to make my hot bikram yoga class, phew!
Soo... being that this was going to be my last run of the season and it went fairly well, there is yet another run called Emirates Hills that is a 1/2 marathon OR a 32km (20 miler). I don't want to race again, realize I'm a better long distance runner, but am considering the 32 km to run just as a pacing/training run. We'll see though!
Anyhoo, happy running!!! 3 weeks, 2 BIG races with 2 best times! What a season and looking fwd to the next one :-)
Anyhoo, happy running!!! 3 weeks, 2 BIG races with 2 best times! What a season and looking fwd to the next one :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment