The Adventures of GeekGirl

If you follow me on Twitter I’m sure you already know that I pretty much had the best day ever out there on the course. Seriously. It was full of win.

Going into the race, I was worried about the status of my sore hip. I made it to the chiropractors office for an adjustment on Friday and that might have been the best thing in the world for me to do. I ran an easy couple of miles on Saturday and felt like absolute crap. My hip started hurting me the minute I started running. It sucked and left me really worried.

Sunday morning I was up by 4:13 am. (The 13 was to recognize the fact that I was going to run a half marathon.) My dad was going to pick me up and drop me off at the starting line around 5:15 or so. I did the usual stuff. Ate some oatmeal, had a cup of tea, took a shower, walked Gio. At this point, I felt indifferent.

I made it to the race with plenty of time to spare. Quick visit to the porta potties then it was time to line up. I honestly had no idea what pace I was going to run, so I stuck myself between the 2:00 and 2:15 pacers that I saw. If I was having a good day I’d try to go under 2:10 (I really want to go under 2:00, though). If not, well…I’d just run and see what happens. I figured either way I’d PR. I thought my PR was 2:17, but later found that it was 2:27.

We were off right at 6am. From the get go, I felt good. My hip didn’t hurt and my legs felt fresh. The complete opposite of how they felt on Saturdays run. The weather was cool and I was ready. My first mile was around 10:20ish. That’s what I wanted to run for the entire race. However, something happened. After that first mile I started clipping of miles just under 10:00. That terrified me. I ran a 10k about a month ago and averaged 9:59 per mile. There was no way I could run that for a half.

Boy was I wrong! The splits:

Interval 1 Mi 10:16.47
Interval 1 Mi 9:53.71
Interval 1 Mi 10:09.22
Interval 1 Mi 9:49.71
Interval 1 Mi 9:57.7
Interval 1 Mi 10:10.64
Interval 1 Mi 9:52.2
Interval 1 Mi 9:58.98
Interval 1 Mi 9:56.26
Interval 1 Mi 10:05.32
Interval 1 Mi 10:00.56
Interval 1 Mi 10:08.24
Interval 1 Mi 10:06.13
Interval 0.09 Mi 0:44.74

Official Time: 2:11:08 Pace: 10:01
A PR OF 16 MINUTES!!! Who knew? Further, I think I can run much faster. I ran with caution and made myself slow down those last few miles because I was afraid that I was running too hard.

Considering that my training was a bit soft due to the piriforms/hip issues I consider this run to be full of win. I’m pumped about what this year holds for me running wise. I haven’t been this excited about running in years. I finally feel that I am capable of getting faster. IF I stay healthy. I need to work on my diet too, because I’m still toting a couple of extra pounds. I’m toying with going vegan. We’ll see. It really isn’t that huge of a leap for me. I don’t do a lot of cheese or milk. (I hate milk, actually.)

Up Next: Who knows? My favorite 5 miler is coming up. In April, I want to do a trail run. Yeah. I have no idea how that will go, but whatever. It sounds fun and that’s all that matters. I think I’m just going to enjoy my running for the time being. I’d like to build slowly to 40 mpw and see what happens.

Onward, bitches!

Ohhhh…I also went on a date with a guy I didn’t hate. Interesting.

Tags: A1A Half Marathon