Do I even really need to mention how I didn't train like I thought I would for this race? Like...y'all know that already! My training plan was 16 weeks, running 3 days a week for a total of 48 run days. I completed 16...I think...that is literally 1/3 of the training runs...a small percentage of those were long runs with my last long run being on 10/30. It was 8 beautiful miles, the last run in my old neighborhood, totally bitter sweet...and also left me chaffed for a week and some change.
Needless to say, I had switched to completing the 10 miles and not going for my goal pace. I was hoping to achieve a 13:30 minute per mile pace. Something I am very proud to be saying a little over a year after completing my first half marathon where I struggled to maintain a 15 minute per mile pace during training (not to mention the 8 miles uphill that I did for that race).
I also had all intentions of running my virtual race the day of the actual race...Saturday 12/10. Well...I planned a party at our home for the 10th. The Sunday before, I looked at the weather. I saw that it was supposed to rain every day that week, including the 10th, except Monday, 12/5...the next day. Running anything over 6 miles on the treadmill is just boring and that is what I would have to do if I didn't go on Monday. I found a trail close to my house that is like 13 miles from one end to the next so I decided...out and back on Monday!
I loaded myself up with my camel Pak back pack, Honey Stinger gels, electrolytes, and my Go Guarded Ring and I left. I drove the 25 minutes hyping myself up the whole time. I told myself that at the slowest I would finish in 2.5 hours and I was okay with that! I got my gear on, crossed the street to the beginning of the trail, pushed play on my music, then hit start on my watch and RunKeeper app.
I wanted to see what I could do given that I hadn't trained like I wanted so I didn't take pictures or anything along my run. I documented nothing except my celebration at the end...but I'll get there. I like that every 3 or so miles when I took my gel, there was a trash can close by so I didn't actually have to carry out my trash with me! At the beginning I also started to regret my decision to not use vaseline in my chafing places...I had decided spur of the moment to go commando (sorry if that's TMI) like a lot of runners do apparently and I didn't put any protectant on except on my arms. It ended up being fine.
I found myself in a good rhythm that ended up with me walking about 0.1 and then running 0.9. By doing this I found myself looking at the time in multiples of 13.5. I remember telling myself "13:30 then 27" I finished my first mile and then said "27 and then 40:30". Finished my second mile and thought "40:30 and then 54 will be 4 miles and that will be 6 minutes faster than ultimate goal which means 8 miles will be at 1 hour 44 minutes and I'll definitely be done in under 2.5 hours!" Yeah...hyping myself up and I was only 1/5 of the way done with my race.
I hit 5 miles and ran a little farther before I turned around to make sure that my watch and my app GPS would catch up. Up until that point, they had been the same but that changed the last half of my race. By the time I finished my app, which was tracking for the official results ended up being 0.09 behind my watch which was very irritating when it came to reporting my finish time. Here's the thing...I got to the final mile and saw that I was on time to finish in 2 hours and 15 minutes. That is a 13:30 pace. I couldn't believe it! I was a little huffy which is why some of my 0.1 mile walks sometimes extended to 0.15 but I was determined to finish at or just before 2 hours and 15 minutes.
My RunKeeper official time was 2 hours 14 minutes and 46 seconds. That comes out to a 13:28 pace! Remember that I also said that my app was almost a full 0.1 miles slower than my watch and according to my watch, I finished in 2 hours 13 minutes and 40 seconds which puts me at a 13:22 pace! Regardless I was faster than I had anticipated even with my walking I was able to average it out!
That is the plan for my half marathon. To walk 0.1 miles and run 0.9 miles with the exception of the final mile. I would like to attempt to run the entire thing and kick it into gear to crush the finish line but if I need to walk, I'm going to try and walk at 12.5. I'll take my last gel and then have only 0.5 mile left to finish when I start running at 12.6.
All virtual runners of the Space Force T-Minus 10 Miler have from December 1st to December 31st to complete and submit their times. Medals and such will be mailed out in January. I saw the medal...and the coin...and they are beautiful and I can't wait to run it in person one day. I gotta say that running on Monday was a great decision. It took my legs 3 full days to recover. Like I ran Monday afternoon and it was Friday morning when they felt and worked right! I can't even imagine the state I would have been in at my own party had I ran 10 miles that morning!
Anyway, here is my finisher's certificate that I saved the day after I ran. I should have saved it the day that I ran it because it said I was 37th out of 52 and then this was 39th out of 54 I believe. I'll share my final place when I get my medal and share it with y'all!
Thank you for following along on this journey and guess what! I am rolling right into my next half marathon training! 12/12 marks day 1 of my 12 week training. I can't wait to share the details with y'all in my first week's recap. To say I'm excited is an understatement! **None of the links I provided are affiliate links. I shared the links to the items I used and I enjoy using. If I ever share an affiliate link, I will state at the top of the post that there are affiliate links...at the time of this post, I do not have any affiliate links.
