Nike recap

[ktzmoh]

I'm still so excited over my half marathon that I just really want to do a recap.

day before was uneventful, I slept in, took a nap and generally took it easy all day. I kept starting to feel random pains and aches in my knee and my hips and was getting nervous, so around dusk i decided to go out for a shakeout run to convince myself all was cool.  That wound up being faster than I meant to run it and my knee still felt achy afterward, so I put an ice pack on it and went to bed.

That morning I got up and got there stupid early. I had put myself into the 9-9:59 pace group because I thought 2hrs was a stretch for me. But closer to the race, I thought my pace would be a little faster, so I really wanted to get into 8-8:59 group. Knowing that they are pretty strict about checking pace group wrist bands, I decided my best chance would be to get there before they were finished setting up the barricades. So I managed to get myself past the still-being-trained volunteers and sat around for an hour and a half  in the 8-8:59 area. It was great because I was able to meet up with my friend who was also in that group.

Started out frustratingly slow because there are so many freaking people and so much weaving. Also, my friends weren't really going all out, and i was trying to stay with them at first, which really slowed me down. By the 5K mark, I realized I was going to have to kick it up a notch if I wanted to make it in my goal (5K split was 30:00). So I arranged to meet them at the end and took off on my own. I ran the next 2 5Ks in right around 26:30 each, so I was able to gain back some of my time.

The biggest hill was around mile 10. I knew after the hill, it was all downhill to the finish. And I train in a lot of hills, so I figured it was pretty safe to go all out. I really felt the training at that point, cranked up my music, put my head down and just powered up that hill. I felt so freaking strong.... so strong and I passed so many people.

I crested the hill and the November Project group was up there giving out high fives, which really gave me a boost (I heart them). It was all down hill from there, so I just made like Elsa and let it go. My paces for those last three miles were awesome and I got really excited when I got to mile 12 and realized I was going to crush my goal and make it well under 1:55. I couldn't believe it - what a surge of adrenaline!

Not that exciting in that there wasn't any drama or craziness, but I ran continuously the while time and felt unbelievably strong out there. That makes me feel amazing after the fact, and sets me up for a confident start to marathon training.

So that's it! Now Im recovering - I went for a walk yesterday and a gentle little 15 minutes on a bike this morning. Lots of foam rolling and I'm going to ease back into training starting Thursday.

Also, total rave for CWX endurance generator tights.  I don't have even the faintest of aching in my knees or hips today. They were awesome in terms of keeping me supported. I feel the standard sore quads, but my knees feel amazing. That's surprising because they have been getting really cranky in the past few weeks. I'm stunned that they aren't in pain today.

[libbygrl109]

Very nice! Congrats on crushing your goal!

[G22]

Congrats! Way to go!

[bostonmichelle]

Congrats! Way to crush your goal!

[hannahb]

Way to crush your goal!

[sassystace]

Nice job! What was your final time?

Also, I like your strategy for sneaking in the corrals--just get there before they exist!

[labbie]

Way to crush it, and on hills no less! Congrats on a great race.

Sent from my XT1080 using proboards

[nichelobe]

Great job!!

[fluffycookie]

Congrats!!

[juliabug]

Awesome! What was your official time?

[skwcm80]

Congrats on a great race!!

[ktzmoh]

Oct 20, 2014 19:07:05 GMT -5 sassystace said:

Nice job! What was your final time?

Also, I like your strategy for sneaking in the corrals--just get there before they exist!

Final time wound up being 1:53:44. And yeah- I was totally stealth about the corral- I was wearing a sweatshirt to cover my true wristband even bough it was warm enough to go without it.

[thom]

Awesome job!! Congrats on a very strong race. And your stealthy corral strategy too.

[cinco]

Congrats! You did great! I love CWX tights/capris, but wear the stabilyx.

[gt7301b]

Great recap, way to CRUSH that course.

[shauni27]

Congratulations! That is a GREAT and SPEEDY half!!

[clseale]

Awesome job on a tough course! I'm so happy for you.

[woowoo]

Nice job!
And..."made like Elsa and Let it go" made me laugh out loud.