Over the past two weekends, I have participated in two large half marathons on each coast of the US.
I guess I don't give myself enough credit really. If you asked me even a few months ago if I could run a half marathon on two consecutive weekends I would have loudly proclaimed - yes, but not well and I would be hurting bad. Well, I guess I have become stronger and faster, because I not only did it, but I was not sore after either one and I actually had one of my best times for the second one!
East Coast - On March 21, I ran the Georgia ING half-marathon with one of my closest friends. I told her that if she trained for it I would run it with her. She trained and she did it! I stayed with her the evening before the race as we had to get up very early 4am Atlanta time - may I remind you all that this is 1am in the morning for me! I actually had to set my alarm clock on my Blackberry to wake me up at 12:45 am in the morning since I had not changed it to local time. I am not sure how I remained awake or much less ran but I did it and on only about 3 hours sleep. We had a great time. Congrats to Pippa! She said she was so glad I was there with her as I kept her running - little did she know I was so tired all I wanted to do was lay down on the asphalt and take a nap, but I wanted to keep running to keep her running too. It is runs like this that prove to me that my body can do a lot more than I give it credit for. My nerve issue in my left foot started acting up at about mile 10 but I tried to ignore it and keep going. It really started to hurt at the end but then we were done thank goodness. The pavement really flares up that nerve. Doesn't bother me on the trails at all.
Following weekend - West Coast. I ran the Inaugural Oakland 1/2 marathon on Sunday March 28, 2009. Actually, it is not truly inaugural in my mind as Oakland used to have a marathon about 25 years ago, but this was the first year to have it back. It was a good run, although circuitous through the downtown area and it was perfect weather. Glad I did it. I didn't really get into a good pace until about mile 4 but after that, I picked up my pace a little bit and finished in 2:10 which is just under a 10 minute mile - not too bad for me, but not my best half marathon time. My goal for 1/2 marathon is to break the 2 hour mark. Maybe someday soon - I feel it coming!
Don't have any pics to post but will have some soon. My body is ready to return to running on trails this upcoming weekend. I didn't realize the difference between road and trail running until I started running mostly on trails. Trails, here I come!
I guess I don't give myself enough credit really. If you asked me even a few months ago if I could run a half marathon on two consecutive weekends I would have loudly proclaimed - yes, but not well and I would be hurting bad. Well, I guess I have become stronger and faster, because I not only did it, but I was not sore after either one and I actually had one of my best times for the second one!
East Coast - On March 21, I ran the Georgia ING half-marathon with one of my closest friends. I told her that if she trained for it I would run it with her. She trained and she did it! I stayed with her the evening before the race as we had to get up very early 4am Atlanta time - may I remind you all that this is 1am in the morning for me! I actually had to set my alarm clock on my Blackberry to wake me up at 12:45 am in the morning since I had not changed it to local time. I am not sure how I remained awake or much less ran but I did it and on only about 3 hours sleep. We had a great time. Congrats to Pippa! She said she was so glad I was there with her as I kept her running - little did she know I was so tired all I wanted to do was lay down on the asphalt and take a nap, but I wanted to keep running to keep her running too. It is runs like this that prove to me that my body can do a lot more than I give it credit for. My nerve issue in my left foot started acting up at about mile 10 but I tried to ignore it and keep going. It really started to hurt at the end but then we were done thank goodness. The pavement really flares up that nerve. Doesn't bother me on the trails at all.
Following weekend - West Coast. I ran the Inaugural Oakland 1/2 marathon on Sunday March 28, 2009. Actually, it is not truly inaugural in my mind as Oakland used to have a marathon about 25 years ago, but this was the first year to have it back. It was a good run, although circuitous through the downtown area and it was perfect weather. Glad I did it. I didn't really get into a good pace until about mile 4 but after that, I picked up my pace a little bit and finished in 2:10 which is just under a 10 minute mile - not too bad for me, but not my best half marathon time. My goal for 1/2 marathon is to break the 2 hour mark. Maybe someday soon - I feel it coming!
Don't have any pics to post but will have some soon. My body is ready to return to running on trails this upcoming weekend. I didn't realize the difference between road and trail running until I started running mostly on trails. Trails, here I come!
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