Roaring River Run Half Marathon 2016

My morning started a little crazy as I woke up to hearing my cell phone ring downstairs and realized I had missed my alarm!! Good thing I had laid out my clothes the night before. And, good thing my friends were nice enough to wait even though it would make them late.  We had an hour and 15 minute drive and I was able to relax my nerves and just chat with my friends.

Nutrition notes: At 6:30am when I woke up, I ate a banana and a Cashew Cookie larabar and then filled up a water bottle with Nuun. I also prepared a Generation UCAN bottle with one scoop. I brought sports beans and gatorade chews with me. I don't worry too much about nutrition in a half. I wish this was the case in the Full.

I run with very fast people! Rich and Annie were both going for sub 1:30 which is a 6:50 pace. Wow!! Heather was aiming for a sub 1:40 but could probably even run faster. Shauna said she was going to stay with me as long as she could. She would normally start faster than me, but she had some injuries this training cycle so was not going to run as fast as she usually would. We took some pictures and then the gun went off. My plan was to start in the high 7:50's and then get faster after about Mile 9. Well, this course has a little bit of uphill to start but then gets into the mild downhill fairly quickly. Shauna and I had a hard time slowing ourselves down. The first mile was around 7:45, but then the second mile we were getting in the 7:30's. My watch decided to wig out and turn itself off for a little bit and when it came back on, it had lost some mileage because of the out and back. Say what? So, I just relied on Shauna and decided to leave my watch on the screen that just showed the immediate mile. I never again switched screen to look at my overall time or pace because I knew it would be wrong and bug me. :-) Here are the paces with some explanations.

Mile 1- 7:51
Mile .59-4:26(7:36 pace)
Mile 2-7:44
Mile 3-7:41
Mile 4-7:49
Mile 5- 7:44
Mile 6-7:52 Shauna and I were trying to slow it down so we didn't fly and die.
Mile 7- 7:38 (This is where it went single file and she told me to go ahead, I tried to turn on music but it didn't work. )
Mile 8- 7:48, This was the part in last year's race that I started feeling really tired legs. I was very happily surprised that I was feeling pretty good running in the 7:40's.
Mile 9-7:44
Mile 10-7:43- At this point I knew I was going to PR as long as I didn't fall apart. I was so happy when I saw the 10 mile marker. I cheered and ran with a guy for a second and I said "Only a 5k to go. I am so excited to be in double digits! He said, "You seem really happy. I want to stay with you but I don't think I can."
Mile 11- 7:38 I was surprised by this second wind, but I knew that I had done these 2 mile workouts and was trying to get the 7:35 pace. This gave me confidence.
Mile 12- 7:55 (This is the last uphill mile, Rich had come by me after finishing and told me I was going to PR. :-) I also heard him tell the person behind me to catch me. I wanted to speed up but all I could do was hold on. I just didn't want to see an 8 in my miles.
Mile 13- Here is where we hit downhill and I could speed up into the park. 1:28 for .2 miles- that is a 7:00 pace! I still didn't know my overall time but I knew it was going to be a big PR. I saw the clock at 1:42 something and I was so excited. I finally looked down at my watch but I wasn't quite to 13.1 so I had to keep running around. I felt really dumb but I really wanted to have the time on my watch.
Last little bit- .3 miles in 2:20, that is a 7:57 pace. Not bad for just running in circles. My watch stopped at 1:41:45. I knew it was probably wrong but was hoping maybe I did get sub 1:42. I finally got my official time and it was 1:42:13. That is a 7:48 pace. It was not a negative split but pretty evenly paced. I am very, very, very happy with this race!!! Shauna ended up coming in a little over a minute behind me. Heather finished in 1:40. She had a sideache at mile 5 and would have even ran faster! She is a amazing. Rich ran a 1:27 and Annie ran a 1:30. Awesome runners who push me to work hard! I feel so blessed.

I am most shocked at how well my heart rate did. It stayed in the 180's until mile 12. That is unheard of for me. I felt great! Maybe my marathon will go better than planned. I am getting excited. I still have to start off slow though. :-)