I honestly don't know where to begin. I don't know if I can accurately describe how I felt during the week of, the days leading up to the race, the day of, and the days after. Here's a video that I have uploaded to YouTube to go over the following:
Brief recap of training (total miles and time)
Planning our trip to North Carolina and the last minute changes
How I felt the night before and the morning of
How I felt before, during, and after the race (on site)
Recovery Post Race
What's next (workouts, races, etc)
Be sure to check out the video first because all the info above is there. I have zero editing skills so the pictures from the race course and some of the info from the bullets are below!
TOTAL MILES: 168.81 miles
TOTAL TIME: 40h 54m 16s
Look at those miles and time! That includes race day miles and race time. I did all that in 12 weeks! Who am I! I got a text from my coach post race saying that my average pace was 13:42/mile and a whole minute faster than when I started training. I am beyond proud of the progress that I made!
Check out these pictures from the race course! I did miss an official starting line and finish line picture but here's what I got...also no scenery (hover over the picture to see some commentary).
SO WHAT IS NEXT?
Next training will either start 5/23 (16 weeks) or 6/20 (12 weeks). That gives me 10 - 14 weeks to lose some weight before I have to go back into training mode. There are a few programs that I have in mind but really I'm not sure until I wake up on Monday morning! I do have a call set up with a running coach from the app I used for this training. I'm not continuing with a membership but have some questions and maybe I'll use them for my next training depending on the info I get from the coach. That will also help me figure out what program I'll start!
I want to thank a few people again. My friend Mabel is the one who tagged me in the comments of a post about the Coast Guard Half Marathon. I wish you could have done it with me but thank you for cheering me on! My friend Rachel who trained virtually with me. I hadn't seen Rachel in over a decade but knew she had been a runner and so glad I asked if she would be around for the race. We used the same training program and worked with the same coach and cheered each other on even on race day when we finally got to hug! Our coach Shane Williams. Fellow Coastie and running coach. He gave me great feedback, cheered me on, kept the encouragement going even in that lost week (week 10).
This was an amazing experience. So different from my first race but still so proud of what I've been able to accomplish since October 2020 when I started running again! Thank you to those who have supported me (all my family and friends) and those who read my posts. I can't wait to use this time to also come up with some recipes to share and figure out what else I want to post!
