Tuesday, March 29, 2011

last minute half

About this time last week I decided to sign up for a half marathon. I had been seeing the ads/invite on my facebook sidebar for the Chi Town Half Marathon and 5K for some time but couldn't take the financial plunge. I've said it before, I have an issue hitting the submit/confirm button when it comes to signing up for races. Anyways, I had 14 easy on the schedule, the race was 3 miles from my front door, and along the path I would have to run my long run anyways. I figured I might as well get a shirt and a medal out of a long run! I saw that it would be cold but I was half hoping weather.com was lying because really - what do they know ;)?

Race morning was freaking freezing! I guess they weren't lying this time around. My husband woke up early to drop me off about 30 minutes before the start so I could pick up my ankle chip. I thought there might be a line... It took under 30 seconds. Then I stood around freezing because the real feel temp was around 19 degrees.

Nothing too exciting to talk about this run. It was a local, very small race but well supported for its size. I primarily "raced" to motivate me in completing my long run because well, I haven't wanted to run lately thanks to the weather. I also wanted to see where my endurance was and if I could hold my desired marathon goal pace after coming out of the boot 6 weeks ago. It didn't feel as good as I had felt in previous races but with some self bargaining and thanks to a random runner at mile 6 who unknowingly paced me I held onto my goal marathon race pace. Can I hold that for a marathon? No, not right now. But I'm not disappointed. I finished in 1:58:19 (9:01 pace) and exactly halfway overall, crossing the line in 322nd place out of 644 finishers. Definitely a first for me! I was happy to come in under 2 hours and while this is not my best race it's definitely not my worst. Really that's all you can ask for coming off an injury and randomly signing up for a race! Another reason not to be upset - I had an amazing mid distance progression run 2 days (less than 48 hours) prior to this race ;)


16 comments:

RunToTheFinish said...

I kind of like those really tiny local races, especially when it's just a run to help with training. But yeah you exepect things to take a long time and then it's like ummm..ok now what do I do :)

Johann said...

Certainly nothing to complain about…1:58 is great, well done! This is all very positive and you can feel really good about it.

bobbi said...

Nice job! Sounds like a real confidence booster - glad you were happy with the outcome. 1:58 is fantastic!

Angela said...

Awesome job on the race. Hopefully spring will get there and fast. I'm so not a cold person and it's gotten back down into the 60's where I'm at and I'm hating it. I want my sun and 80's back again.

Laura said...

Well done! Definitely a more fun way to get your long run in.

Marlene said...

Congrats on the half! It's definitely more fun to get the miles in at a race. Good to see you back from injury!!

Kim said...

Great job - especially holding your pace!

I wondered how this event would be. I wanted to do it when it was still in Lake County, on the trails, but they moved it to Chicago due to flooding. Did they do a good job? I am thinking about doing some more of their events.

ajh said...

Sounds like all good reasons to do the race. Local is good.

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

Sounds good to me! Like you said, it is motivating to finish when you are FREEZING!

Mark said...

That's a solid run! I am getting so tired of the cold! Spring is near??

kristen said...

Nothing to be disapointed about for sure. That's a solid run!

Mom, inc. said...

Great! Sounds like doing this race was the perfect idea!

Teamarcia said...

Nicely done! Gosh it is way too cold here. But 80 Sunday so they say...

Jess said...

I love when there's a race that coincides perfectly with what your training plan calls for. Makes it so much easier to get out and have fun running.

Congrats on a great race and being able to hold a really solid pace!

Jill said...

Congrats on the sub-2 hours - yay!

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

Sounds like me right now! I am SO unmotivated with the weather! Nice run though!
Okay, I'll email you more later, but I am in Chicago from the 27-30 of may!