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| So Happy To Finish! |
I can't begin to describe the sheer happiness I felt finishing my first half marathon
The race was run in Central Park NY, and required runners to complete 2 loops of the park, plus another mile or so to the finish line. As I completed the 1st loop, I realized that I felt really good and there was no way that I wasn't going to complete the second loop.
I may have been the only person who had tears in her eyes after the 1st loop
With this realization, I also relaxed. The second half of the race just felt so much better. I was smiling and enjoying the beautiful park and city and was clearly enjoying a runners high!Performance I'm proud of!
In my prior blog, I took a detailed look at my training history, and asked friends and fellow runners to guess the pace I might achieve for the actual race. It turns out that my sister, who has been following my training progress all the way from Australia, was closest in her estimate. She thought I would reach an approximately 11 minute mile and finish in under 2 hours and 30 minutes. Here is what I achieved:
Although I ran a little longer than the official race distance, probably because I didn't run the most efficient tangents, I still achieved an 11:10 pace and finished the race in 2 hours, 28 minutes. This pace includes lots of hydration stops and an unfortunate potty break!
I felt strong and comfortable throughout the race. I was worried about overdoing it early in the race, and finishing weak. However, when I finished the race, I realized I had more to give. For the last 7 miles of the race, my pace was under 11 minutes a mile and every mile was within 5 seconds of the previous mile. I was rock solid!
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| Heading to the finish line |
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| BAM! #WomenRunTheWorld! |
So what next?
For now I'm reveling in the accomplishment. Prior to the race, I thought this might be my first and last half. Now? I am certain I'll run more 5K's and 10K's. However now that I know I can do it, I might even take on another half later in the year....we'll see :-)
Congratulations, my love!
ReplyDeleteThanks sweety! I couldn't do it without my race manager! He's a hunk too 😃
DeleteNice! Do you have plans for a full marathon in the future. A 5k before the end of 2015 and maybe a future 10k is all the conditioning I would ever need. :-)
ReplyDelete:-)
DeleteNo full marathon in my future Bear. I think I've peaked!
:-)
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