I am very loyal to this race, as it is the race that inspired me to begin my running journey so as long as nothing stands in my way I will run the race every year... can't always guarantee that I'll "race" it but I will run it.

  First I want to point out that I have been training for a marathon, my first marathon that is - and I am not using this as an excuse but all experienced marathoners know how fatigued and tired your legs and body are feeling in the final weeks of training (this being week 15 out of 19 weeks for me) so trying to get a PR during a half marathon isn't easy. 

  But my A goal was to better my current PR of 1:56:38, and at the rate I have been feeling lately, I would be lucky if I got close to that time.

Post Race: I took it pretty easy this week, taking Friday off for rest as my legs were already complaining (nothing new there) and I wanted to be as fresh as I possibly could but still feel almost as if this half marathon was the final 13.1 miles of a marathon.

  I woke up at 3:15 AM to eat a Cinnamon Raisin English muffin with some Peanut Butter (Touch of Honey) and drank some water, then I laid back on the couch to sleep until 5 AM. I think I actually slept from 4:15 to 5 AM, I got up and got dressed and had some coffee. Went to the bathroom, put my hair up then messed around a bit before going out and starting the Tahoe to warm up. Hubby came out of the bedroom and wished me luck, then went back to bed lol.

   I parked at the YMCA, just a quarter of a mile or so away from the start/finish but I knew I would be able to drive out of there without hitting any of the course. A bunch of people were already there, it was 43 degrees but I chose to wear my dri-fit nike tee, capris and gloves and sunglasses. Luckily we could go into the YMCA building and hang out and use the restrooms while staying warm.

   The start: I lined up around the 2:00:00 pace group, but I had my eye on the 1:50:00 group. From the moment we started, I questioned my goals because both calves, both hamstrings and my glutes were tight and sore, they weren't happy at all. I told myself to just please get under 2 hours but I even questioned that at this point.

  Mile 1 - 8:51

  Mile 2 - 8:54

  Mile 3 - 8:45

5k split - 27:12

Things were easing up a little at this point, though I was hoping and praying my shins wouldn't act up. I have a huge bruise on my right shin, not sure where it came from but last Saturday's run on bricks and stones hurt like hell, I feared I had shin splints.

No potty breaks yet, a good sign. I had lost sight of the 1:50:00 group but I was still ahead of the 2:00:00 group so that was good.

  Mile 4 - 8:41

  Mile 5 - 8:30

  Mile 6 - 8:36

10k split - 53:47

   Still no potty breaks! And my body was easing up some, I was passing people and people were passing me. At this point we had reached the greenway, luckily the crowd had thinned out some so I wasn't slowed down or bottlenecked. There is quite a bit of hills on this way, but they didn't seem to be giving me any difficulties. I just wanted to focus and stay on pace, stay under a 9 minute pace no matter what.

  Mile 7 - 8:31

  Mile 8 - 8:38

  Mile 9 - 8:48

15k split - 1:20:26

  I am pretty sure that both the 10k split and the 15k split are record PRs for me, I think I knocked a minute off my 10k PR and 4 minutes off my 15k PR. Still no potty breaks, but I was definitely feeling exhausted and tired but I knew I just had to keep going to the end. I knew at this point that as long as I kept running I was going to get a sub 2 hour at least, but math isn't my strong suit and it damn sure isn't when I am running so I had no idea what my finish time would be. It was only 43 degrees but at this point the sun beating down on me was becoming unbearable. 

   Mile 10 - 8:33

   Mile 11 - 8:22

   Mile 12 - 8:44

   Mile 13 - 8:37

   Mile 13.1 - 7:23

My official time was 1:53:12 with an average pace of 8:39 min/mile, my old PR was 1:56:38.

Overall: 400 out of 1,975

Gender: 132 out of 1,191

Division: F 25-29 : 25 out of 148

Edited: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Even in the heat of my first marathon training, I managed to PR during this half marathon by 3 minutes and 26 seconds. I am tired, I am extremely sore and I still have a 5k to run tonight.... I am pretty sure I'll be taking it easy tonight. Tomorrow and Monday are going to be rest/recovery days for sure. Once there are pics posted I will edit this RR.

  At this point I don't even want to think about the marathon I've got to run in 4 weeks lol.... 

 I forgot the emoticons AND exclamation points  LRB is going to hurt me  

Thank you!! I definitely plan on taking it easy for a few days, probably all week while keeping my mileage the same depending on how I feel by Tuesday.

Congrats!!!!

You did a great job focusing on your pace, Andrea. This bodes well for your marathon.  Congratulations!!!!! (extra exclamation points for you, because you deserve them.  :-))

 I hope so, but I think with an average pace closer to 9:30 and maybe even 10:00 I should be able to do the marathon in the same condition as this lol, wore out both physically and mentally. Somebody is going to be carrying me back to the hotel lol.

You have gotten into some seriously good shape during your marathon training.  Congrats on a huge PR, run on tired legs no less.  And I think your "secret" marathon goal may have just dropped a tad.  

ETA:  !!!!!!!!

Beautiful splits. Nice job and congratulations!

  

  Even in the heat of my first marathon training, I managed to PR during this half marathon by 3 minutes and 26 seconds.

Heck yeah, Free!

Congrats on a big PR, things are looking good for that debut.

Congrats!  Now you should feel confident going into Monumental.

Did you do a warm up before the race?  That might have loosened your legs up so you could hit pace the first couple miles.