Johnny Miles half marathon

I did it. I got through half marathon #4 and it aws as much of a success as I could have hoped for. Although I was in a pretty significant amount of pain for about 40% of it (Bluenose was about 70% pain) and I worked for each and every step. Here are my splits from my new Garmin: (and my garmin only measured 12.97miles but its a Boston Qualifier race course so I know it was at least 13.1)

Mile 1- 10:12

Mile 2- 10:24

Mile 3- 10:12

Mile 4- 10:13

Mile 5- 10:23

Mile 6-  09:58

Mile 7 - 09:57

Mile 8- 09:53

Mile 9- 10:04

Mile 10- 10:05

                     Mile 11- 10:50 <- I was really struggling here

Mile 12- 9:11

My complete time was 2:11:31 and my overall pace was 10:08 (with the several walking breaks that I took in the last half hour.

Here are some pictures from the race:

This is my family pre-race. We covered 3 of the 4 distances: 5km, 10km and Half marathon.

Dad and his two running daughters on a great fathers day.

Thats me in the yellow shirt giving 'er to the finish line.

Hows this for an action shot. My legs are blurry? or just shaking? Haha I was happy to be passing that other chick,

Clock time was 2 minutes faster than my Garmin. Im guessing Garmin will be closest to my chip time.

Post race photo with the sister. I was TIRED! I think my eyes are slightly open in this picture. But only slightly. Heather is not looking to hot haha.

Such a great weekend. The race was such a success not only because of the run but because of the great organization. My family and I drove into New Glasgow for Saturday for the pasta supper and race kit pick up. The kit has some great stuff like a tech tee and a nice hat and a magazine.

The pasta supper was pretty good, but not amazing. Although they did have spaghetti with the option of meat sauce or plain (I chose plain, obviously) but the Ceasar salad had bacon on it which I was a little unimpressed with because its not exactly something you can pick out. There were also bananas, chips, cookies, and donuts to go with the supper. Plus Gatorade, Tims coffee and tea, and water of course.

The expo was small but had some cool races and a great apparel booth from Runalicious with some awesome women's running clothes, that I was unfortunately too poor to buy anything from. But its a new company started by some Halifax women that you should check out :)

We drove home that night, and back up the next morning. New Glasgow is 1.5 hours from Dartmouth, so we covered a lot of distance in less than 24 hours, but Im glad I got to sleep in my own bed rather than a motel. Anyways start time was 8:30, and we were there and parked by 8:10. Parking was a breeze, and it was awesome cause there were some porta pottys in the parking lot. Clearly Im impressed by small details. The start line was like 4 minutes from the parking lot, and we walked by the pre-race food setup, which would be nice if you needed a quick snack.

The race course itself was nice. 1 loop for the 10km'ers, 2 loops for the half and 4 dreaded loops for those crazy marathoners. About 40% of the run was on a trail by the river which was super nice. There were some areas with a very nice breeze, and since it was a warm day that was very appreciated. Water stops were about every 4km with water and Gatorade. The finish line was my favourite part (which seems obvious but the finish line of Bluenose is uphill and pretty brutal). You turned off the road onto the bridge, had about 100m on the bridge and turned a corner and could see the finish line, about another 100m down the way. Another plus: it was slightly downhill! I was able to sprint with 2 girls, one beat me, and one who I beat!

Post race meal: sandwhiches from Tim Horton's, yogurt, fruit, granola bars, coffee, tea, bagels, donuts, etc. And the had veggie sandwhiches! It was awesome.

Overall, great weekend, great race, and great result :) I am a happy girl, ready for a solid sleep.

Physiotherapy

So here's the situation:

I have a half marathon on this upcoming Sunday. And I have an injury. Well, two really. My 4-6 month long pain in the balls of both my feet that I get after about 10km. And recently (last week and a half) I've got a pain (when I both run and walk) just above the heel of my left foot.

I don't want to hurt myself more so I've only run three times in the two weeks (12 miler last Sunday, then a 4 miler and a 4.5 mile on this past Sunday). This is a really hard thing to do, considering that I just got a new Garmin Forerunner 405. I can't try it out until Sunday but Im so excited to! Anyways, not running=hard. Hurting myself permanently=worse.

So I went to physio today to see what the situation really is. She seems to have an idea of whats going on but I have to go back on Thursday for a treadmill run. And on Thursday she is going to tell me whether it's okay for me to run on Sunday or not.

This is where it gets complicated. I've run 12 miles on both injuries recently (week and a half ago) and it was really hard but I got through it and I dont think I hurt my feet anymore. So I dont think running the half would be detrimental to my health. But if she says I cant run it, I know I shouldn't. I know that, but I really want to. I'm a little scared or training (and paying for) a half marathon and then not even trying it. That seems like such a waste for me. I don't know. I hope that when Thursday comes, Ill be okay with the possibility of not running on Sunday but right now, Im not okay with that.

I know this is kinda selfish and I know that there are more races ahead in my future, but Bluenose was so hard for me and I think if I run this one smarter (read: go out slower) it would be so much better. Plus I love the fact that its a course Im unfamiliar with and Ill be able to look around/be distracted and what not. Plus, my whole family is doing either the half or the 10km and I really want to be able to run with them instead of just watch them.

Anyways, Poor little me! Haha life has been very interesting lately. But still no job. Boo

Tired Runner

I ran 12 miles this morning. I feel like is stole my spirit. Haha not really but I am just exhausted. I've spent the whole day watching shitty tv and laying in bed and eating tostitos with some sick salsa leftover from last nights grad party.

I ran it in 2:06:31. Which is a 10:31 min/mile pace. Im happy with that. It is slower than what Id like to do for the half (which is two weeks from today) but thats what training runs are for right? They are meant to be slower than goal pace. This is something that I try to tell myself during my long runs, but I always feel like Im wasting them by going slower than I intend to during the race. Is this a normal feeling? I feel like I pushed myself a little too hard today, but Im happy with my effort and that I didn't give up.

And I chafed. Like a you know what. Man, I forgot how brutal it is for skin to rub against skin for two straight hours. And yes that sounds dirty, but it is the opposite! Painful. Ugh, so I'm going to be body-gliding the shit out of any chafe-prone area for every future run. Oh the glamour.

I had a family bbq last night. It was my graduation party :) It was a fun afternoon and I was able to eat relatively healthy (although the 6 beer I drank weren't so healthy...but they were drank, not ate) and eating vegetarian was no problem. Although that may have something to do with the fact that I helped plan the menu.

Man, not really feeling this blogging thing lately. Sorry Brad. Haha :)