February 12, 2006
I don't have the official results yet, but I finished in the neighborhood of 1:55. My goal was 2 hours flat, so I did much better than that, and I ran as my coach instructed: negative splits. That pace is around 8:45 a mile. I ran most of the race with a buddy from my running group, and that kept my mind off of pain and the cold weather.
If I had more time to train for these things, I would need to work on muscular strength in my legs. I have the endurance and the cardio to go faster, but my leg muscles can't crank any harder. Nevertheless, the training I did helped a LOT. I didn't see Jesus until mile 12.
My sweet ole Dad met me at mile 10.5 and tried to run the rest of the race with me, but by that time, I was cranking out some speed and he couldn't keep up. Still, the moral support was appreciated.
Official finish time forthcoming when they post them on the interweb.
Posted by megabeth at February 12, 2006 02:56 PM
Congrats on your excellent finish. Just stick with your training and your times will continue to improve.
Posted by: Cagey at February 13, 2006 01:15 AM
I have to say I'm REALLY impressed considering that you were still recovering from the oral surgery as well. And I wasn't sure how the cold temperatures would affect your running. When running a half-marathon, do temperatures at or near freezing impair performance if you're used to them?
Posted by: Stan at February 13, 2006 09:36 AM
Maybe I lost a lot of dead weight when the tooth was pulled, which increased my speed and efficiency.
Just kidding.
I have avoided running in temps under 40 so this was the first time for me. I had tested out a lot of different winter clothing during training and choose the perfect clothes for yesterday. I would have preferred the temp be 50 (that would be my ideal). But the cold really didn't bother me. Once I started running, my body was warm. It's very important in weather that cold to be wearing quality athletic gear - this means NO cotton anything on your body anywhere. The sweat should be wicked away from the body by synthetic fibers.
My dad asked me if it hurt my lungs, and it didn't. Training in cold temps will help that out a lot.
Posted by: megabeth at February 13, 2006 09:41 AM
Congratulations--sounds like a good experience all around for you.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at February 13, 2006 11:24 AM