a week ago, i ran my second half marathon! the plan was concocted while i was in vietnam last november. i'm not sure where the inspiration came from but all of a sudden, i remember thinking, "i want to run another race!" so i did a quick google search, found the rock 'n roll half marathon in DC and sent an email out to friends. who wanted to join me?!
since we ran the bavisela together in trieste last may, it was easy to convince V and L and the plans were set. march 17th, 2012 = reunion half marathon + early bday celebration for me and my quarter of a century!
so how did the training go? well i got into really good shape in december when i wasn't working. i was lucky to have beautiful running weather at my parents' in roanoke, and not having a job gave me plenty of time to focus on the running. unfortunately, when i did start working again in january - things got a bit hectic. i was stressed and with minimal daylight hours, it was difficult to find time to run outside - and who wants to do a long run on the treadmill? definitely not me.
thankfully, living near V again gave me extra motivation. we started running together during the weeks and doing long runs on the weekends -- it's amazing how much more fun it is to run 11 miles with a friend than by yourself. overall, things were much easier this go around. i knew what to expect and i was more confident in myself knowing that i had run 13 miles before. in addition to V, i knew lots of other people in the area training for the same race or another race so there always seemed to be people doing the same thing i was. and running through the monuments in DC isn't the worst thing ever.
as we turned the corner to march and the weather gods decided they weren't into winter weather, things began to heat up around here. and by that i mean, temperatures very quickly rose to mid-70s and wearing a jacket was no longer necessary. beautiful! wonderful! excellent! i first thought. but then i went on a run and was super sweaty and the heavy, humid air was hard to breathe and WOOF i was not trained for this. enter, nervous emotions.
my goal for this race (the one i told other people) was to beat my time last year (2:14) but my secret goal (the one i didn't tell many people) was to break 2 hours. i was feeling really good and the times of my long runs made me think i could do it. alas, neither happened, officially. my official finishing time was 2:16 but i did have a 7ish minute bathroom stop in the middle. so, minus those 7 minutes of standing in a line, i would have finished in 2:09 and boom! met my outloud goal.
the race was a fun one. there were SO MANY people running and going through DC on st. patrick's day made for humorous spectator circumstances. there were lots of encouraging signs saying things like "beer: 5 miles ahead," or "hurry up so we can drink." there was even a make-shift service station of good samaritans passing out cups of green beer to runners. i may have taken a cup if they hadn't been positioned right at the bottom of a big hill around mile 8...
at the end of the race, we weren't greeted with jello shots like last year (we missed you, K!) but the race did have a giant expo with lots of free swag and live music! we did our best to hoard the free swag and milk the expo for all we could.
then we spent an excellent day hanging out in DC, catching up, refueling, and yes, drinking our share of guinness to celebrate the holiday. the race was fun and the reunion around which the weekend was centered was even more fun.
i love the camaraderie of running races with friends -- luckily, i have a few more coming up! in may, i'm doing a triathlon in san diego with my sister as well as tentatively running another half over memorial day weekend with lizzy in boston! apparently i'm into being physically fit. thanks to daylight savings, it's much easier to find daylight hours in which to train... you know me, just thinking about running in the dark makes me nervous.
i'm still amazed with myself and my enthusiasm for running now as an "adult." on every long run i took, i found myself thinking back to my high school track days and the passionate hatred i had for running the 400 meter warm-up lap that was required.... man how things change.
x!
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