2:14:18. Take that, self! That doesn't sound quite right ...
Oro Valley Distance Classic 1/2 Marathon Results:
Place: 624
Final: 2:14:18
Pace: 10:16
Race wrap-up time! I had planned to post earlier this week about my pre-race progress, but never got around to it. But I'm actually glad I didn't, because the whole "I haven't trained hard enough, wah!" routine gets a little old, even in my head. There comes a point where you just need to accept the amount of training you've done, prepare yourself mentally for the race, and go.
So, to break down the numbers a little bit, here goes. A 1/2 marathon is 13.1 miles, since a whole marathon is 26.2 miles. Lots of people ask me that when I tell them my time, which explains a lot of the blank looks - if you don't know I ran 13 miles, saying I did it in x:xx time doesn't really mean anything.
I tried to find some landmark in Tucson that is 13 miles away from my apartment, but couldn't. From my apartment to the Tucson airport is only 11 miles, so I ran farther than that. From my apartment to the Foothills mall is only about 10 miles, so I ran farther than that. Oro Valley is around 15 miles from Tucson, so I didn't quite run that far. There's a perfect one for Prescott though - it's 13.5 miles from my house in P-town to the Harkins movie theatre in Prescott Valley, when you take Willow Creek to Pioneer Parkway and go that way. So I basically from my house to Prescott Valley. Pretty cool to think of it like that, huh?
My time for this race was 2:14:18, so 2 hours and 14 minutes. My first 1/2 marathon time was 2:30:05. So that makes a difference of 16 minutes, and in running time that's AGES. I knew I would improve over my first time, but I didn't think the improvement would be THAT much! I was honestly aiming for 2:20 this time around, and I'm very pleased to have beaten that, and beaten my dream time of 2:15! I'm very pleased to have kept an average pace of 10:16 minutes per mile. That's about my average pace when I run for fun or for training, so it's really heartening to have been able to keep it up for 13 straight miles!
There are a bunch of different factors that made the difference in my performance this time around, but I think the two biggest ones were music and sleep. I actually slept before this 1/2 marathon! What a concept! I only had to drive up to Oro Valley in the morning, not to Phoenix. (Poor Vicki did have to drive down to Tucson from Phoenix though!) I really think that having the weekend to rest and a good night's sleep made a world of difference in my energy level. I wasn't nearly as dead-tired after the race as I was last time. The other big difference was the fact that I had my music this time! I really missed it during the P.F. Chang's race in Phoenix, even though they had live bands along the route. Even though I'm in my head during a run, music really helps me keep my pace over the long haul. It's a lot easier for me to get into a consistent rhythm when I have a beat to step to. :)
Unfortunately, there were a few similarities in the pain I felt during both races. My hips and knees started screaming at me somewhere around mile 9 this time around. That actually is an improvement, since I started hurting much earlier in the race last time. I do feel like the work I did in strengthening my hips and back before this race helped, if only in delaying the pain. I'm not quite sure what I can do from here on to alleviate that pain, though. It's frustrating because when you have a sore or cramped muscle, you can stop and stretch it out. Or you can take a break to walk a few paces and that helps. But since my pain really isn't muscular, stopping to stretch doesn't help, and neither does walking. It works in my favor in that I don't really take walking breaks as much as I might want to, but that's only because walking hurts just as much as running at that point!
I felt much better post-race this time around, mostly due to my energy level being much higher. I still hurt like hell, but I wasn't about to drop from exhaustion! I'm still very glad I don't have to work today, though. :) I've mostly recovered, but my knees still scream at me when I try to move! And I think my body is insisting that I make up for every single calorie I burned during the run, because I've been starving ever since I finished! It's a good thing that we're going to all-you-can eat sushi tonight!
Conclusions?
• I still need new shoes. But thankfully, Ben got me a gift card to the Running Shop, so I can get them without breaking the bank! Yay!
• Running goo can be as icky as it sounds/looks/feels! I was excited to try the Vanilla Bean flavor of GU this time around - big mistake!! It was basically all sugar! The last thing I want to ingest while I'm running is something that tastes like a packet of splenda mixed with glue! Blegh!
• I still need to stretch more. Stretching is good, mmmkay?
• The motto of my life holds true once again: If I've done it once, I can do it again. Once you do something really difficult and live through it, it makes everything else seem easier because you are stronger. My other motto held true too: I've been through worse things in my life, so I can definitely get through this. Works every time :)
Place: 624
Final: 2:14:18
Pace: 10:16
Race wrap-up time! I had planned to post earlier this week about my pre-race progress, but never got around to it. But I'm actually glad I didn't, because the whole "I haven't trained hard enough, wah!" routine gets a little old, even in my head. There comes a point where you just need to accept the amount of training you've done, prepare yourself mentally for the race, and go.
So, to break down the numbers a little bit, here goes. A 1/2 marathon is 13.1 miles, since a whole marathon is 26.2 miles. Lots of people ask me that when I tell them my time, which explains a lot of the blank looks - if you don't know I ran 13 miles, saying I did it in x:xx time doesn't really mean anything.
I tried to find some landmark in Tucson that is 13 miles away from my apartment, but couldn't. From my apartment to the Tucson airport is only 11 miles, so I ran farther than that. From my apartment to the Foothills mall is only about 10 miles, so I ran farther than that. Oro Valley is around 15 miles from Tucson, so I didn't quite run that far. There's a perfect one for Prescott though - it's 13.5 miles from my house in P-town to the Harkins movie theatre in Prescott Valley, when you take Willow Creek to Pioneer Parkway and go that way. So I basically from my house to Prescott Valley. Pretty cool to think of it like that, huh?
My time for this race was 2:14:18, so 2 hours and 14 minutes. My first 1/2 marathon time was 2:30:05. So that makes a difference of 16 minutes, and in running time that's AGES. I knew I would improve over my first time, but I didn't think the improvement would be THAT much! I was honestly aiming for 2:20 this time around, and I'm very pleased to have beaten that, and beaten my dream time of 2:15! I'm very pleased to have kept an average pace of 10:16 minutes per mile. That's about my average pace when I run for fun or for training, so it's really heartening to have been able to keep it up for 13 straight miles!
There are a bunch of different factors that made the difference in my performance this time around, but I think the two biggest ones were music and sleep. I actually slept before this 1/2 marathon! What a concept! I only had to drive up to Oro Valley in the morning, not to Phoenix. (Poor Vicki did have to drive down to Tucson from Phoenix though!) I really think that having the weekend to rest and a good night's sleep made a world of difference in my energy level. I wasn't nearly as dead-tired after the race as I was last time. The other big difference was the fact that I had my music this time! I really missed it during the P.F. Chang's race in Phoenix, even though they had live bands along the route. Even though I'm in my head during a run, music really helps me keep my pace over the long haul. It's a lot easier for me to get into a consistent rhythm when I have a beat to step to. :)
Unfortunately, there were a few similarities in the pain I felt during both races. My hips and knees started screaming at me somewhere around mile 9 this time around. That actually is an improvement, since I started hurting much earlier in the race last time. I do feel like the work I did in strengthening my hips and back before this race helped, if only in delaying the pain. I'm not quite sure what I can do from here on to alleviate that pain, though. It's frustrating because when you have a sore or cramped muscle, you can stop and stretch it out. Or you can take a break to walk a few paces and that helps. But since my pain really isn't muscular, stopping to stretch doesn't help, and neither does walking. It works in my favor in that I don't really take walking breaks as much as I might want to, but that's only because walking hurts just as much as running at that point!
I felt much better post-race this time around, mostly due to my energy level being much higher. I still hurt like hell, but I wasn't about to drop from exhaustion! I'm still very glad I don't have to work today, though. :) I've mostly recovered, but my knees still scream at me when I try to move! And I think my body is insisting that I make up for every single calorie I burned during the run, because I've been starving ever since I finished! It's a good thing that we're going to all-you-can eat sushi tonight!
Conclusions?
• I still need new shoes. But thankfully, Ben got me a gift card to the Running Shop, so I can get them without breaking the bank! Yay!
• Running goo can be as icky as it sounds/looks/feels! I was excited to try the Vanilla Bean flavor of GU this time around - big mistake!! It was basically all sugar! The last thing I want to ingest while I'm running is something that tastes like a packet of splenda mixed with glue! Blegh!
• I still need to stretch more. Stretching is good, mmmkay?
• The motto of my life holds true once again: If I've done it once, I can do it again. Once you do something really difficult and live through it, it makes everything else seem easier because you are stronger. My other motto held true too: I've been through worse things in my life, so I can definitely get through this. Works every time :)