Yesterday I ran the Run Girl 13.1.  It was my 3rd half marathon.  I was interested in the race last year, but I had my first half in Nov 2011 and didn't want to register for this race without having run a half yet since I wanted to make sure I would want to run another one .  I did volunteer at it last year.  And the weather last year was terrible.  It's Houston, TX and it was 30 degrees out and raining.  So this year the race swag included a long sleeve tech tee and gloves.

So this year, instead of freezing and rainy, it's 80 degrees, sunny, and humid.  Pretty much the exact opposite of last year!

My first half last November was 2:49:25.  My 2nd half was 2:43:50.  Going into training for this half, my A goal was 2:35.  I put more speed work into my training this time around and things were going really well.  At least things were going well until November.  Things got really busy at work and with my family and I let myself make excuses for skipping runs.  And it went from skipping one run, to missing an entire week.  I ran a whole 25 miles in November.  That should have been where I was at weekly.  So I knew with this lack of training, 2:35 most likely was not going to happen.  So I was hoping to at least pr.

I ran this race with my friend, Tammy.  We started out doing pretty good.  Our plan was to try to stay between 11:30 and 12:00 mpm.  She had her watch set to run 5 min, walk 1.  So for about half the race, we ran 11, walked 1 (basically ran the 5 min, ran through the 1 min walk break, and ran the next 5 min).  We would walk a few seconds at the water stations too. We were feeling really good at the start.  I even managed to smile at the cameraman once.

Miles 1-7:

11:36

12:04

11:44

11:51

12:02

13:05 (first mile doing 5:1)

12:02

Miles 8 was the beginning of the end...  I was drinking at every aid station so I wouldn't get dehydrated, but I could tell I needed some salt.  Luckily this aid station had pretzels.  So this was a long walk break while I ate some (and almost choked on them too...) 14:25

Other than the pretzel break, we were still maintaining the 5:1 run/walk, but I could tell the run portions were getting a little slower.  And then there were more and/or longer walk breaks.  And I wasn't so happy in my pictures anymore...

Miles 9-12

12:57

12:50

13:38

14:09

Mile 13 was the worst.  I hurt everywhere.  This is where it was confirmed what I already knew - my training wasn't good enough.  I tried to run, and I would for a little, but I couldn't keep it going.  I walked a lot this mile.  15:22.

I have no idea what the .1 pace was because I forgot to stop my Garmin when I crossed the finish.  That's the first time I've forgotten to do that!  I do know I ran that whole portion though!

I do know that the last time I looked at my Garmin right before I crossed the finish, it was going to be very close on if I beat my worst half time.  No pr for me.  But my official time was 2:54:40.  That's when I remembered I stopped my Garmin when my friend and I took an emergency potty break around mile 10 (I didn't want to mess up my splits ).  So when I finished, I thought it wasn't my best, but it wasn't my worst.  But it turned out that it was my worst.  But I'm not counting myself out yet!  I'll keep it to some easy running this week and get back into training next week.  I know what mistakes I made for this half, and I plan to be more dedicated training for my half in February.  I don't know if it's possible to get my A goal of 2:35 in 2 months time, but I think with some good hard work, I can try for that pr again.

Here's a close up of the awesome medal with a little charm in the middle

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

Congrats on your third HM!  I'm liking the swag they gave out.

Love the medal!   

So, this wasn't the best race - but you know why it didn't go well (lack of training), and you can fix that next time, so chin up!  You'll get there!  

Congrats on sticking it out. 

great job- keep up the good work.

Congrats on your HM!

FYI I wouldn't wear the gloves OR the long sleeve shirt in 80 degrees.  Just sayin

I think you deserve big congrats! And you look great in your pictures!

Sorry it did not go as planned, Jackie, but you'll get that 2:35 eventually, no doubt in my mind.

Congrats on your half and your persistence and determination in getting to the finish line.

If those are photos of you looking scary, then I bet you look fantastic in your non-scary photos.