It was a lovely day for sure..maybe a tad hot for distance running but not humid so all in all a great day to run.
I had not been overly focussed on racing goals, but did want to get back in the game somewhat after a year of not really racing just having fun.
I started the year off with wanting to improve on my 1:55 PB at the half and my 52min PB at the 10 but got rather derailed abit with so much travel with work and hard for me to stick to a plan. I can say I kept myself relatively fit with good base of running, dumped some extra weight early in the season, got alot of spinning in, but not ideal training to meet any specific PB goals..for now...
I have been having much more fun watching my wonderful husband achieve some of his goals that made mine seem so arbitrary and silly. He certainly has inspired me.
So started off race day with Jeff dropping me off and promising to see me on the flip side.
I had started my training with a a good plan but near the end did not get in as many of the long runs as I had wanted so had no expectations for the day. It was so crowded at the beginning and I could not even get into the yellow corral which is where I wanted to be. I figured I could probably do this race between 2 and 2:10 but ended up behing the 2:15 bunny..oh well...
The race started off with alot of dodging and parrying..oh my! I don't remember my past halfs being so crowded. I had not raced with my Garmin in so long i totally messed it up..so frig it..run on feel..which is what I did.
I had a ball!! I loved the new route, the crowds were amazing, I never really felt overly tired just plodded along. I particularily liked running on the parkway as I could see the downtown core from there and kept thinknng tha tis not far!! hahahahahaha! Mentally that was good!
Crossed the finish line at 2:14 gun time, 2:08 chip time. Not my slowest half not my fastest.
I ran my first half mary in 2005 with more focussed training at 43 years old at this same speed. I ran it this past weekend, at 50, the same speed...with spottier training athough overall I think more fit overall. I ran it in 2008 at 1:55 where I trained specifically for it did all the runs etc... So I am encouraged and know what it takes to get the time you want...The question is do I want to try for faster...not sure...for now having fun...although a sub 50 10k would be very cool.....Next up Perth Kilt run with hubby and decide from there. Oh yes best part t was the meet and great with Ottawa crew and visiting maniacs! Great company, great conversation and cold beer.
