Shamrock Half Marathon

In March I ran the Virginia Beach Shamrock half marathon. We got to the beach on Saturday before and it was supposed to be raining all day, but it wasn't! It was chilly and overcast, but I was still able to get my feet in the water!

The race was on Sunday, so Saturday we ate supper out and then hung out, heading to bed early so I would be ready for the early wake up call.

A goal: 2:30
B goal: beat my previous PR of 2:42
C goal: finish without dying (I am getting over a sprained something in my back and I have tendonitis that keeps flaring up alongside my ankle)

 I went out with the 2:30 group, knowing it was a bit of a stretch- I could hang with them for at least 10 miles if I didn't have a BAD day- didn't know how far I could go with them on a good day. The pacers were actually pretty consistently 15-30 seconds ahead of pace. I stayed with them until mile 8 or 9 and then kept with the prescribed pace of 11:27 but let them get ahead of me- I was afraid of pushing too much and burning way out.

You guys, for the first time I ran the whole thing other than 3 water walks (ran/drank from my belt other times). At mile 12.5-13 or so the pacers must have realized how ahead of schedule they were because I blew past them without any extra effort. I kicked up the pace for the last mile (down to 10:49 from 11:30s!) and finished in 2:28:45! I beat my A goal and got a 14 minute PR! I admit I got a little teary at the end
because I knew I was going to completely skip the 2:30s.

 Afterward I felt GOOD! I could have kept going- my ankle and back held out!

So now I have a new half marathon PR to chase. I am running another half this weekend (ahem.. took me awhile to get this recap up) and am still aiming to beat the 2:28 PR, even though the course this weekend is slightly hillier and it will be warmer. Now that I know I can do it, I just need to remind myself to keep pushing harder.