I am discovering that there are advantages to being an incredibly poor athlete that has to start from nothing to build up to any level of fitness at all; one of the prime advantages is that you can make ENORMOUS gains when you build your base fitness over a winter. Settle back and let me tell you a story about the little runner that could, did and is so excited that she could not sleep last night, will probably not sleep tonight, and may not sleep again for days.
Monday the 28th I was talking to Marcy in Las Cruces, and she told me there was a 1/2 marathon in El Paso. I told her I didn't think I could do it, after all you can't do two in a row can you? Sure you can, Marcy encouraged. We were looking at the race site (jointly on our separate computers-- parallel play at its best, separated by 200 miles) and we realized it said that you had to pick up the packet in person, in El Paso, on Saturday. That nearly put the kibosh on the deal since our girls played in the first round of state basket ball on Friday (they won, YEAH Vixens) and the boys played in the first round of state basketball on Saturday afternoon (they won, YEAH Foxes). Marcy suggested I send the race director an email asking for mercy, so I did, and that night I got an email back giving me permission to have someone else pick up the packet. I told Les that the Lord must be blessing the venture since it would be much easier for Him to keep the race director's heart hard since there were going to be thousand in the race. Les, Mr. Practical, said he didn't think I could blame my craziness on the Lord. Then he told me he would go with me, so we had a mini-vacation planned :-)
I fixed my dish for the church potluck, did the church bulletin, and we left both items at the building. Then as soon as the boys won, we headed to El Paso. We stopped in Roswell and got some yummy dinner at the Zen Asian Diner and made it to the hotel about 9 PM. Aaron met us there. He was kind enough to pick up my packet and we had a nice visit and then I was able to get to bed about 11.
Marcy, Jeffery (her son) and Johnathan (college friend of Jeffery) met me at the hotel at 6 I have to say the folks at the Holiday Inn Express get bonus points for being nice Normally they do not serve breakfast until 7. They adjusted the schedule to accommodate the racers and set it out early. They gave Marcy a parking pass so she could leave her car at the hotel and we all jogged over to the conference center for the race start, about seven tenths of a mile away. We figured it was a good warm up. They had a bag check-in, so that was great for me since I like to run in cooler wear, but tend to freeze prior to the start. I'd had Shelley (local embroidery art business owner) decorate up a performance t-shirt for me with some fox paw prints and I was wearing my Newton shoes (see my Christmas shoes note for a picture of the best shoes EVER). I had on my NM Outlaws hat (multisport group) and my pretty butterfly socks. I tell you the details of the outfit, because every moment is emblazoned on my memory now that I am writing it down......
We all lined up at the start. I chatted with a man next to me. It was his first 1/2 and he was nervous. I reassured him that he had nothing to worry about because I KNOW that if I can do these events he can and he did seem to feel better as we talked. I'd set a goal of cutting 15 minutes off my prior best running time of 3 hours and 47 minutes from the Albuquerque 1/2 marathon last October. It was a cool morning, but I was optimistic. It took about three minutes for everyone to get across the start line, and I started my Garmin when I crossed the line, so my time is only tracking my running time.
I was running along and a couple of women next to me started up a conversation and mentioned that I seemed to have a really consistent pace. I was stunned. I laughed and said, thanks and then we talked a bit about how we got into running, what running we did, etc. I guess I did have a consistent pace, because even slow as I am, I eventually left them behind. That never has happened before..... That was weird. Anyway, I kept running and I know I was looking at my pace and it was 14/15 minute mile pace, so not very fast, but I was doing okay. I got to a long hill, and walked up it with another woman and she told me that she did this 1/2 every year, never trained and that the first half was quite hilly and the rest was pretty flat. Tip of the day, find out about the course (had not done that). I decided that I would walk briskly up each hill and run down each hill. That proved to be a winner of a strategy. I remember reading somewhere that this was not a very good idea, but it sure felt good on Sunday, and I have to tell you that while I have some muscle soreness in my thighs, I am really feeling great.
Around mile five or so I ran and walked a bit with a gentleman who suggested I breath in more through my nose and less through my mouth, so I tried that. I don't know if that is good or not, but I tried it, and seemed to do fine. Talk about shooting from the hip. Gosh I am glad nobody told me to try walking on my hands! I stopped at one port-a-potty just in case there wasn't one later, but I could have skipped it (I am sure you need the toileting details). I walked each water station and poured water on my head, down my chest, and down my back since I was pretty warm even though it was not all that hot. That coolness seemed to help me quite a bit. I do not know how much I ran vs. how much I walked, but I know I averaged 14:55 minute miles and that is about 2 minutes better per mile than I have ever done before. I can't believe I cut off that kind of time.
Now I do have to give the none 1/2 marathon runners some perspective. Marcy, who is about five years younger than I am, ran her 1/2 marathon in 2:06, so that is a respectable time for a 1/2 marathon. 3:17 is still a LONG time in a 1/2 marathon---- HOWEVER it is such an improvement that I am having a huge party in my head all day and all night, and I may never sleep again because I am truly getting better and more fit. I can't believe the improvement. You can celebrate with me.
Next adventure--- Roadrunner Triathlon on April 3rd in Las Cruces (unless something else magical comes along in the meantime........) I do know that now I have to see if I can keep running 13+ miles each weekend. Long runs, here I come.
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