Riverton Half Marathon {in pictures}

Mile 1.5

Mile 3.5-ish

Mile 4.5 - ish

Mile 8.5

Mile 13 (my husband took pictures)

Finish line

Trying not to fall over...

My running partner, who trained all winter with me and finished her SECOND half marathon with a 4 minute PR of 2:07!

Race Report: Riverton Half Marathon

Goal A, B, C or D?

Well, for the first 9 miles, I was doing amazing.  My average pace for the first 9 was an 8:50 minute mile, so I was on track to absolutely KILL that course.

Things don't always go as planned.  It was hot.  It was really windy.  The sun was sapping all of my energy and the last two miles were so much harder than I was prepared for.

But you can't train for heat like that in March in Utah!  And to make it even more frustrating, the next day, the weather was absolutely perfect conditions (for me) for running.

The thing that I am happy with is the fact that I left EVERYTHING that I had on the course.  Normally, at the end of the race I usually have enough juice to sprint in the last .5-.25 mile.  On Saturday it took until I was about 10 yards from the finish line before I could get my legs to respond.

Finish time: 2:01:41

SO CLOSE!

But I am very happy with a new PR.  Very.  It's just hard to not be disappointed because I was SO close, and I felt really good for the first 8-9 miles.

I have some freaking sweet pictures from the race (my dad is so awesome and went every few miles along the course to get pictures of me), unfortunately they are on another computer.  So I will be posting those later.  And I'm sure that I will have more to say about the race.  I'm trying hard to not be so bummed about missing a sub-2 finish - I really need to be proud of the fact that I took 2 minutes and 34 seconds off of my previous best time.

And I am.  Really.

Final stats:

2:01:41

9:17 min/mile

71st woman finisher overall

8th in 25-29

Out Like a Lamb?

The weather forecast for tomorrow has me re-thinking my goals.

Well, not re-thinking, more... letting goal of the dream.

I've trained in all kinds of bad weather this year.  Rain, snow, slush/ice on the roads, wind.  But tomorrow is something that you can't really plan to train for, when your race is in March in Utah.

Tomorrow's high is 77º.

Oh, and it's supposed to be mega windy starting at 9am, which coincidentally is race time.

Mega windy = 20 mph, gusting to 40 mph.

And the winds are blowing out of the south... so that means for the first half of the race, I will be running directly into the wind.

And for the last half, I'll have a nice tail wind - except for the .25 before the finish line that will be running into the wind again.

Wish me luck.  Running directly into the wind sucks and I know that it will take a lot of my energy, so I'm not planning on a sub-2 finish anymore.  But I won't just be giving up... I'll still be running my best and I'll take whatever I can get.

I run my best when it is 40º outside... but tomorrow during the race it will be 20º warmer.  That means I'll probably be about 15 seconds per mile slower that my best.  I'm still hoping for a PR, but I won't be upset if it doesn't happen.  (At least, I will try to act like I'm not upset.)  This is the first race of the year and I know that I will be running more half marathons, so I will have my chance to get sub-2 soon enough.

March: In like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb Freaking Windy Loser.

*Obligatory picture of my little cutie*

Race Day Goals

I ran 7 miles on Saturday - the hilly part of the half marathon course that is this Saturday.  There was no walking for the entire 1:07 that I ran and I finished strong and feeling that I could run at least another 3 miles.  So things are looking good for race day.  I plan to take 2 GU breaks during the race, meaning that I will walk for the time that it takes me to eat a GU packet and then keep going.

Yes, I have time goals for the race. And I'm pretty crazy for trying to go for a new PR on such a difficult course (I mean, it's not super hard, but it does have 4 hills - 3 of which are pretty serious).  The race is going to have pacers - one every five minutes from 1:40 - 2:30 - and my plan is to stay with the 1:55 pacer for a long as possible.

My hope is that I won't go out super fast and crash - like I almost ALWAYS do in a half marathon.  I can't run 8 minute miles for the first three-five miles and expect to hit my time goal.

So here it is, Blogging World, I'm setting my goals high and I hope that I can come away with something great on Saturday.

Goal A - under 2 hours

Goal B - under 2:04:15 (for a new PR)

Goal C - under 2:05:45 (my time from the last half marathon that I ran in November)

Goal D - PLEASE LET ME FINISH UNDER 2:10!

... ... ... ... ... ...

The weather was perfect on Saturday and we took Katie to the zoo.  And the only time we pulled out the camera was when she was on the carousel.

Which she loved, in case you can't tell.

Race Report: St. Patty's Day 5K Gold Rush

I raced in a 5K this morning. 

And I was amazing!  Like, 25 seconds per mile faster than my last 5K amazing.

Which means...
I have a new PR of 23:24!

This is my crazy

 I-just-crossed-the-finish-line-and-almost-puked-a-few-times-during-the-race

face.

And I won my age group!

And my husband ran fast (finished in 21:30)!

And there was a cow!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Its a Mad World

How do you respond after you find out a tragedy has taken place along your normal running route?

The article that I just read told me the police have said:

 "that investigators believe her death was an "isolated act" and not random, saying joggers and other recreationists shouldn't have to worry about a killer on the loose in that area."

But how do you not worry?  This happened sometime on Sunday, after my 10 mile run on Saturday along the same path.  The half marathon that I am running in less than 3 weeks is the same route.  Will I feel different when I run past the place that they found her?

I don't know what to feel.  It hard to wrap your head around something like this.  In a place where you always felt safe.

But this is just ANOTHER reminder that we all need to be safe and cautious on our runs.  Go with a partner when you want to run those isolated trails.  Run near busy roads.  Tell people where you are going (and what you are wearing).  Use a treadmill.

Be safe.

How I Spent My {February}

Number of runs: 15


Miles run: 75 (I really need to up my mileage)


Average pace for the month: 9:28


Calories burned: 7100


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Not to mention a million new outfits for a growing little girl.