Saturday, April 19, 2008

Unser Half Marathon Race Report


Woke up bright and early and checked the weather channel which claimed that it was currently ~45degrees and would be sunny. Nice! I decided to go with a a running skirt and tank top with a long sleeve shirt over that. Had my hydration belt ready with 3 bottles accelerade, one bottle water. Wore a headsweats hat to keep sweat out of my eyes and the evil sun off my face. Stuffed a gel in each pocket. Had a cup of coffee and half a bagel with peanut butter and was ready to go.

We got to the race venue, parked the car, and walked over to get our timing chips. Shortly after installing chips on our shoes, Cindy and husband were picking up theirs. We chatted for a bit which helped take my mind off the race. We followed a group down the road trying to find the start line, but nobody really seemed to know where the start was. Eventually, the starter guy showed up and gave what seemed to be detailed directions on the course, but he wasn't using a megaphone so nobody really heard him. After a bit we were finally on our way.

The course was quite nice. We wound our way in and around some nice neighborhoods in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. Nice quiet streets. We ran up past my daughter's middle school. Then over to the bike path for the return trip.

As the sun came up over the mountains, the air temp was lovely. I took off my long sleeve shirt somewhere around mile 6 and tied it around my waist. There was no wind. Really nice running weather. I felt good, wasn't in pain, and had Husband right there by my side. I was taking in the sights and truly enjoyed the moment.

Cindy and husband were on the sideline when we were making the final turn toward the finish. It was so nice of them to hang around. My spirits were really lifted when I saw them standing there cheering! Thank you, Cindy!!

Now for numbers. If you recall, I averaged about a 12min/mi pace for the two half-marathons I ran in the fall. My stretch goal today was to come in slightly under an 11:30min/mi pace and break 02:30:00. Based on my 10K times, the McMillan Running Calculator predicted that I could do a half marathon in 02:27:00, one more data point that suggested that I had set a reasonable, but agressive goal.

Let me begin by telling you that everytime I checked my Garmin, I shook my head in disbelief. A few times, I even said "Wow." I'm still in shock.

Updated with official results: 2:21:36 (10:49min/mi pace)!!

How the heck did I pull that off?!?! I've been thinking about that all day. At the moment, I tend to believe it was the combination of setting a realistic goal and just sticking with consistent training focussed on the half-marathon.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

34 comments:

  1. WOW! That is awesome! Congrats!

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  2. GREAT JOB!
    I am SO proud of you!
    Sounds like you had a perfect day..here's to many more to come!
    Take Care

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  3. That is just fantastic, Lisa! You are getting better and better every day! Cindy is a fine gal, is she not? and kudos to hubby for being there with you!! Well done!!!!!!!

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  4. Woohoo!!! Great time. Nice pace.

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  5. OMG OMG OMG!!!
    YAY! YAY!
    CONGRATULATIONS!

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  6. What a great result. You inspire me to do well in my race, too. So slow and steady wins the race - hey? :-)

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  7. Well Congratulations!!
    What a great race! You trained well and then you
    JUST DID IT!!!

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  8. Gee, I wish i'd known about this! I did a 15 mile run today, I could have done this instead.

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  9. Wow! That time is totally impressive! I think you're on your way to a great season ahead! Something like this is always the motivation to continue on. It sounds like it was a perfect race. I like your plan to enjoy the moment. I hope I can do the same next week.

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  10. Brilliant stuff Lisa! Given your focused run training and how well it's been going I suspected you had something great in store! Really REALLY well done!

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  11. Awesome Lisa!!

    That may have been steady but it sure wasn't slow! Good for you!

    Sounds like the perfect day, great temps, good friends and of course it was wonderful to have your husband to run with....

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  12. CONGRATS LISA!!! THAT IS AWESOME!! ;D ;D It must be all that "enjoying the moment" I tell ya!

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  13. Lisa, it was so exciting seeing you and your husband coming in the last stretch! I told Jeff you were hoping for around 2:30 which would have been in about 8 minutes. Then Jeff said "here they come!" I was like...WOW! Lisa PR'd big time!!

    You looked so strong and happy coming in :)

    Congratulations!!!

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  14. Congrats on a great race.

    You can put all your doubts to bed now.. Rest up and enjoy your accomplishment..

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  15. Yea! Congrats! I am so pleased for you!

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  16. Awesome job! Sub-11 minute miles! wahoo@

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  17. Excellent job, that's the way to smash a goal!

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  18. That's cool how you saw them coming around the turn towards the finish :)

    And GREAT JOB on hitting your goal! :)

    Psyched for you!

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  19. Wow!!! You did great!!! I'm really proud of you!! Thanks for inspiring me. :-)

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  20. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    LOOK AT THAT TIME!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

    I am so happy for you!!!

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  21. SO AWESOME!! Your training must have been right on and you executed your race stretegy perfectly. Great race!

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  22. Nicely done! Good for you.

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  23. Isn't it fun when you surprise yourself?! Congrats on a most WONDERFUL race!

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  24. Congratulations! Yes - your consistency has paid off. (Who was it who said something about slow and STEADY anyways??) Way to go, Lisa!

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  25. just under 10:50 per mile.!!!!!!! great job..congrats

    had to be just the most perfect day...wow.....

    rock on girl

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  26. YA-AY for you!
    You totally did it!

    I insist on seeing the finishline photo though ;)

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  27. Sounds like you had a great time and set an awesome awesome final time!

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  28. Wow...what a great accomplishment! :)

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  29. That's AWESOME! Way to go! You did so very well. I bet you're on cloud nine. What a great race report, race and obviously you did train hard too. Nice pace!

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  30. Nice race report. My goodness, a monster PR! Once or twice I have had an unexpected PR by severl minutes and it always followed good, consistent lengthy training. No secret; it was your dedicated preparation that led you over that finish line. Congrats!

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  31. Fantastic job! That's what sticking w/ a plan & goal will get ya!

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  32. Hey Lisa - Sorry I'm so late, just playing catchup from my trip. This is amazing. What a great job you did. I love it when I look down at my watch and am in disbelief, it's only happened a couple times but it is such a cool feeling. Congrats on the great time and great improvement.

    Thanks so much for all your great comments.

    XOXO
    Nancy

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  33. Belated high five on an awesome race!! It give me hope that if I stick with it I will get faster, I will I will!

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