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ilanaramaI ran the Steamworks Half Marathon this morning. It was my third time running this race, but my first time actually managing to train for it, and so I had high hopes for doing far better than the slightly more than 2-hour times I had run before. I always have multiple goals, and as I posted over at ![[info]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
runners, these were mine:
Well, the pixie dust was flying, apparently: I ran 1:44:19, third place among Masters women (40-59) out of 37, and 8/140 women overall. I am, to put it mildly, stunned. Especially since that works out to be just under an 8 minute mile - and I ran maybe a total of 4 miles during training at that speed. Even my speed miles were mostly in the range 8:05-8:20, which I found it hard to sustain for the full interval distance of 1-4 miles - so how come I managed to do slightly better than that for 13.1?
I started out running at what I thought was a comfortable pace, and kept sneaking glances at my Garmin, thinking, oh, it must be reading off, there is no way I am running that fast. And then I hit the first mile marker and it still told me I was running too fast. Yet my heart rate was well within what I had laid out as my "don't run faster than this or you will suffer" level. It was downhill, so I reasoned, hey, I'm just getting a boost from the hill Same thing happened the second mile. And the third. And by then I just figured I would roll with it, keep the pace, see how I felt, and much to my surprise I felt pretty good until about mile 12, when I just wanted it to be over, damn it, but talked myself into finishing by promising my body it could keel over after the finish line. (Which it did.)
Then I drank three beers. \o/
runners, these were mine:Fallback goal: better than 1:56 (my current half marathon PR, which was actually the first half of the Baltimore Marathon)
Stated goal: better than 1:50
Seekrit goal: 1:48:xx
All the stars align and someone throws magic pixie dust on me: better than 1:48
Well, the pixie dust was flying, apparently: I ran 1:44:19, third place among Masters women (40-59) out of 37, and 8/140 women overall. I am, to put it mildly, stunned. Especially since that works out to be just under an 8 minute mile - and I ran maybe a total of 4 miles during training at that speed. Even my speed miles were mostly in the range 8:05-8:20, which I found it hard to sustain for the full interval distance of 1-4 miles - so how come I managed to do slightly better than that for 13.1?
I started out running at what I thought was a comfortable pace, and kept sneaking glances at my Garmin, thinking, oh, it must be reading off, there is no way I am running that fast. And then I hit the first mile marker and it still told me I was running too fast. Yet my heart rate was well within what I had laid out as my "don't run faster than this or you will suffer" level. It was downhill, so I reasoned, hey, I'm just getting a boost from the hill Same thing happened the second mile. And the third. And by then I just figured I would roll with it, keep the pace, see how I felt, and much to my surprise I felt pretty good until about mile 12, when I just wanted it to be over, damn it, but talked myself into finishing by promising my body it could keel over after the finish line. (Which it did.)
Then I drank three beers. \o/
