Six Months Later

I don't actually know how people keep these things up to date. I am just now writing again after 6 months or so. I have been running about 20 miles a week through the winter.
Spring has finally sprung though and everyone feels happier to be outside.

In January, i had a procedure called NovaSure done. ( you can google it for more info) This has greatly helped my running. I'm still not getting too much faster but I feel MUCH better. Just more energy in general.
I decided that I would set my sights on the National Half Marathon on March 30th.

Before I ran that I ran two 10 milers.

The first one was the Reston 10 miler.

Here is the report on that one...

I decided to run this race at the very last minute- like Friday. This is a small local race- there were probably 200 runners there at the most today. I'm preparing for the National Half Marathon in a couple of weeks and my weekly mileage has been lower than it should be. I thought that this race might be a good kick in the pants to get me going these last couple of weeks.

The night before my husband and I had a rare date night. We went to Benihana's and I ate eel and drank not one but two cosmos: not my typical night before a race food and drink.

But race day dawned, and I felt OK. It was raining and dreary, windy and just a little cold. We were all huddled inside the high school before the start. My friends went to warm up but I was having none of it. I didn't want to get out there until the last minute. The race starts and I realize I have no plan whatsoever. I thought it might be fun to see how long I could maintain the pace of my friends. They started out at about an 8 minute pace which I knew I couldn't keep. That lasted about 3 miles for me and then they sped up. All the while it's raining, not pouring, but just nice, solid precipitation. One of those races where you keep taking your gloves off and putting them back on. I then just went with what felt good, up and down the hills. At the end, I was able to speed up some to back around an 8 minute mile to finish in 1:28. I'm surprised I had fun with this one even with the cold rain. A 10 miler is the perfect distance. Not too short, not too long.

Afterwards, I "raced" home to take a quick shower and then head to church. No time to cool down and stretch. :)