Running is therapy

Today was the running of the Hands-on House Half Marathon and 5K. And as constant readers know, I have been training to get there.

This was actually a really bad running week for me. I was supposed to run 6 miles Sunday, 4 Monday and 2 Wednesday. I ended up doing 3ish on Sunday, 6 on Monday and then I never ran again until the race this morning. We are moving offices at work, and Wednesday just kind of blew up in my face, so I bagged the run (when I got home at 10 pm). However, my body was getting banged up with all the mileage increases I have taken on over the last 2 months so a 4 day lay off before the race was probably a good thing.

I slept fitfully last night, though not too horrible. And to be honest not that much worse than I usually sleep. I woke up at 7 ready to get my race on.

We drove down to the race and picked up our numbers and chips around 8:30. The race was running a little behind so I had time to chat up Eric and his wife, as well as Marcus before the start.

Sometime around 9ish we made our way up to the starting line and were milling around when we heard the bell to go…so we went. I dropped back fast, I did NOT want the race day high to make me go out too fast. Even with constant admonitions to myself to slow down I ended up running a 9:34.

I was feeling great, so I decided to run by my breathing. I know about how hard I am breathing when I am under a sustainable load for running, so I decided to let the adrenalin work it’s magic and open up those lungs. It seemed to work well as an indicator. I ended up running much faster than I imagined and felt fine the whole time. The only mile I ran that was slower than 10 minutes a mile was mile 7…mile 7 is the mile that contains the The Hill. And even with that hill I still managed a 10:11 mile (though to be honest that kind of irritates me now that I am looking at all my other sub 10 splits).

The atmosphere there was pretty cool, and there were plenty of people scattered along the course to cheer you on. The turns were all clearly marked, and the aide stations were at the ready with water and Gatorade. I did drink at miles 4 and 8. I skipped the other stops, as I felt fine.

The weather was fantastic! It was in the mid 50’s when we arrived, and stayed fairly cool the whole 2 hours I was out there.

The finish was undramatic, but it was nice that I had people waiting for me at the end cheering me on. I gave a solid kick for about the last 100 yards. My Garmin put the course distance a little short at 12.91 Miles (a little less than 2 tenths of a mile). 2:02:33 was my final official time (since this was my first half, it’s also a PR :).

1 mile Splits: 9:34, 9:10, 9:13, 9:14, 9:49, 9:14, 10:11, 9:34, 9:18, 9:32, 9:18, 9:53 and the final .91 in 8:09.

Some stats From the 305:
Distance: 12.91
Time: 2:02:15 (pace: 9:27 m/m)
Average Heart Rate: 162 bpm
Calories Burned: 1887