PR at a price

I had a great run at the Rock CF half marathon.  I was fortunate enough to get a PR and beat my goal of 1:45 by a very close 13 seconds for a time of 1:44:47.

It's been a long day!  I got up at 3:20am.  Got ready, ate my breakfast, and headed out on the 1:20 minute drive to get to Grosse Ile.  I wanted to be there early so that I could get a good parking spot next to the High school.  Mistake #1 - I did not need to show up quite that early, got there about 5:20am and could have gotten there by 6:20am and got a spot.  Not too big a deal.

I picked up my shirt and bib so I'd be ready for the race and then about 6:30, started looking for Stephanie over at Steph's Shoes and Rose over at Hacker Half Marathon.  We were able to find each other really easy since it was not crazy busy.  It was nice that we were able to wait in the High School gym just until the race started and we got a picture too!

Me and fellow bloggers, Rose and Stephanie

I was also able to get a picture of the race sign outside the school before the race too:

The race started right on time which was good.  They played the National Anthem before the race but so many people were talking during it.  Very rude.  I do think some of them probably did not hear it since there was quite a crowd.   The day was cold.  Starting was around 32 degrees and it was still cold when I finished the race.  The run was nice.  It was all flat and it since it was around the island, you saw water most of the time or really nice and big homes on the water.  It's funny because this course was much easier than my first marathon, the Brooksie Way in Rochester but I felt much worse after it.  Either that or I just forgot how bad I felt after the first race.  Haha!

The end was nice because you came back to the school and made about a quarter lap around their track where a bunch of people were cheering you on.  It was nice to have that for a little extra push at the end. Since I was trying to beat 1:45, for the last 4 miles, I kept looking at my watch at each split.  Here are the garmin splits:

Mistake #2, I went out WAY too fast. What the hell was I thinking.  This is almost like 5k pace fast.  I'm lucky I could hold on as long as I did.  Don't ask me what happened on mile 12.  The only thing I can think is I was getting really tired.  I knew that when mile 12 showed that time, I had to kick it back up if I was going to make 1:45.  My thoughts exactly when I saw the time on mile 12 - "I didn't run hard this whole race so I miss my time by a few seconds." and I got back on pace.

What I should have done is paced my run within 10 seconds of 8 mile splits each time instead of going out so fast or just ran slower like I planned.  While I was really excited to finish with my goal in hand, it has its consequences.  My IT Band is screaming at me right now.  I had planned to take off tomorrow which is good but it looks like I'm probably going to have to take off Tuesday as well.  This is exactly what I didn't want to do is get hurt for a good time before my marathon in May.  So I'll do the proper thing and rest my legs - even if that means several days off of running.  It's better to do that then get right back to it and suffer going forward.

After the race, they had bagels, bananas and cookies.  They had more homemade cookies than I have ever seen!  I had a bagel and a couple cookies and stretched out my legs.  I was also able to get a picture with the organizer of the event, Emily Schaller and also a picture with my medal outside the school.  She organized the event to benefit Cystic Fibrosis which she has and she is a runner too.

Emily, the organizer and I; I feel tall!! Haha!

Post race

Medal!

Back of medal

Long sleeve Shirt we got!

In my opinion, the event was really well organized and was a great success!

Have a great night and.....Keep Running!!!!!