My First Half Marathon is Done!

Friday night I had mac and cheese for dinner and was in bed at 8:30 (and was awake at 2:30!) but dozed on and off until 7:30. I ended up skipping Weight Watchers - I wouldn't have weighed in anyways.

My daughter had a 9:00 am soccer game and I had to drive an hour to pick up my bib starting at noon. The weather wasn't conducive to apple picking so we went for Mexican for lunch - probably not my smartest choice, but I drank a ton of water all afternoon. After getting my bib, the rain stopped long enough for us to grab some Mumms and mini-pumpkins for a farm stand, and then I lounged the rest of the afternoon and ate a huge bowl of pasta for dinner.

Wake-up was 4:30 am. The race started at 8:00, but parking was going to be a problem so we need to get there early. I met my friend at 6:00 and she drove to the coast. It was definitely chilly. Thankfully I had brought a throw-away coat (it was too big - yeah!!!) for the start of the race.

Sunrise over Hampton Beach, NH

My goal really was to just finish the race. I would have liked to get under 2:30 but I hadn't trained for it. My hopes were to run 12:00 minute miles for 0-7, 11:30 for 7-10 and 11:00 for 10-13.1. The race was 4,700 people - Me and my friend lined up in the last corral - though she could have lined up in the one prior as she was hoping for 2:19.

I started out too quickly running about 11:30 and I really ended up doing that for the majority of the race. There were only small inclines, the max getting to 60 feet above sea level. There was a strong headwind the last 2 miles by the beach, which were hard. By that time my feel were hurting and I wasn't sure if mentally I could keep going on. I was tempted to call my husband, but I talked out loud to myself and got through. I was able to gun it the last .3 miles (at a 8:45 pace) and finished in 2:33.

I was thankful to have my camelbak as I didn't have to stop for the water stops, except once to douse my bandana. I had on sunglasses but hadn't worn my hat - I kind of wish I had. We really lucked out with the weather - I am not sure how I would have done if it had been hot!

My toes are not good. I thought I was getting a blister on my little toe but it didn't blister but I am wondering if I may end up losing it :( One of the big toes was so so, but the other was a bloody mess when I took off my shoes :( I didn't do much to it last night - I just changed the wrappng, but I've got to let it breath and drain it and keep it clean.

I am scheduled to do a 10K on Monday but even if my legs are feeling okay, I may have to skip it to let my toes heal. We have a date with Mickey Mouse in a month and I need to be healed by then!

So what is next?
Enjoying long runs of 6-8 miles - but I need to make myself do them! Not every single weekend, but more often than not. Last year when I wasn't training, I only got out once a month if that because I used every excuse not to - it was raining, I was tired, I want to sleep - all the things I haven't used as excuses for the last 3+ months.

I will do another 1/2 - I am just not sure when and where. We really lucked out with the weather but I can't always be guaranteed such good luck. And getting in all those long runs in August and September is hard with the schedule - but when would be a good time? I need to find a perfect end-of-April race :) But I also love all the spring 5ks.