Half-Marathon

Pam, Kate, Lauren, Sharon, & Lexi

Thanks Ladies for a Great Race!

In September, I had the opportunity to run a Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) with some gals from our church. Thanks to Lauren for getting us started by sending out an email to see if anyone would like to get together and do some longer runs on Saturday morning. This was a relaxed (show up when you could, with no guilt over missing) way to have some companionship on what is a mentally grueling process of training for a race. The plan to do the 'Half' together didn't come up until later but it was the perfect way to celebrate some of our results at the end of summer. We chose the Wilson Bridge Half-Marathon. It starts at historic Mount Vernon, goes up the George Washington Parkway, across the Wilson Bridge (and the Potomac) and into the new National Harbor Complex in Maryland. (It's a 2 state race.) There was quite a bit up "uphill" running, I am glad I didn't look at the elevation map until the morning of the race. The view was amazing though and made it worth the hills!

I have run one other 'half'...it was 11 years and 3 kids ago. Colin was just 1yo at the time. This was a fun opportunity to prove that I still have 'it,' whatever it is. I didn't tell anyone but my secret goal was to finish this race faster than I did the other one. And honestly, I was convinced I could do it until about a month before the race when I started struggling with runner's knee. So on the morning of the race, I figured I'd give it my best and be happy about however it turned out.

Long story short, I ran the first 6 miles at a GREAT pace which saved me on miles 10-13 where my knee was really hurting. The last mile was absolutely no fun, I couldn't even enjoy the last mile 'high' because we were running on gravel and it made my knee hurt worse. But, I am happy to say, actually I am THRILLED to say that my official time was 36 seconds faster than my time 11 years ago!! Apparently, I still have it. :0)

**For those who are curious, I have deferred the Marathon until next year. I had enough time to train in a perfect world. But as you can guess, with a husband who worked very long hours this summer and 4 kids (one who was teething and not sleeping thru night most of the summer), it is not a perfect world. The marathon is coming up in 2 weeks and I could have done it but I would not have been happy with how much I probably would have needed to walk (vs. run) and I would have risked injuries. Ultimately, I started not to enjoy training b/c I knew I was pushing my physical and mental limits. The pressure of the process by far outweighed the pleasure in the pursuit. So, in a VERY TOUGH decision, especially for a first-born, type-A, who doesn't like to ever quit anything, I decided deferring to next year was best. I am happy with the decision that I made and I hope that the training goes better next year with a few extra months to build distance and prevent injuries.