beauty and fitness

My first half marathon and I don’t know how I feel about it

The day finally arrived – the half marathon!

I signed up for the 3TV Phoenix 10k/Half Marathon – it was the 38th annual race so it’s been going strong for quite a few years. I chose Phoenix so I could combine this race with a visit to an old friend.

My friend and I took a ~6 mile walk around Scottsdale greenbelt the day before, so my legs were nice and loose. I made sure to drink a gallon of water, and I ate two packets of instant oatmeal for dinner. Other than butterflies, I felt pretty good the morning of the race!

The start line was in Downtown Phoenix. I was glad that it was a little bit nippy and cloudy, since the weather forecast predicted temps in the mid-80s. Unfortunately, the cloud cover and chill in the air didn’t last too long.

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Starting line – these folks looked like serious runners. There were 700 participants for the half marathon.

I started out strong. I ran a non-stop, steady pace for the first 6 miles, pausing only for water at the hydration stations.
half marathon splits

Once I hit Mile 7, I followed the intervals I’d programmed in RunKeeper – run 1 mile, walk a quarter of a mile. This worked until Mile 12 when I pretty much ran out of gas. I walked that entire mile and planned to run the last 1.1 miles, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

I secretly hoped to finish in 2.5 hours, but I just missed that goal. I was happy that I stuck to a 12-ish minutes per mile pace. The chip time has me finishing at 2:38:20 with a 12:05 pace.
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Phoenix was a good course because it was flat, but running in 80 degrees with the sun beating down wasn’t great. I finished in the bottom 20%. I knew I was bringing up the rear, but I didn’t think I was that slow. I’m trying to remind myself that I am not running these races to compete, but it is a bit discouraging.

I don’t know how I feel about this race. I started out reasonably well and felt confident, but then my energy started to flag (and Gu didn’t help. It was kind of gross, actually). Usually when I finish a race, I come home and sign up for as many more as I can afford find, but this one left me feeling meh. Right now I’m not motivated to try another half. I think I could do better if I followed a stricter training plan, but I’m not sure if I want to.

I’m looking forward to the races I’ve got scheduled – a couple of turkey trots, an ugly sweater run, and the Tinkerbell 10K at Disneyland, but for now I think I’ll just cool it on the half marathon plans.

How was your weekend?

12 thoughts on “My first half marathon and I don’t know how I feel about it

  1. I think you did well and as I’ve said before I’m super proud of you! It was your first half marathon after all. 🙂 I am not sure if I ever want to run that far but I think it’s very impressive that people do! If I can start running again I think I’ll stick to 10 km as my goal. But let’s see if (and when) I get back into running in the spring.

  2. you did great! you walked a mile in 13:32? that is so fast at that point in the half! I have done one half and did it in 3 hours. I think you did a great job!!

  3. for some reason, you comment box doesn’t load up on my browser sometimes..;(
    anyway..i wanted to say congratulations! i think it’s amazing. 😮 🙂

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