Success is Suhweeet!!!

 

Success is Suhweeet!!!

This past Sunday I participated in my 2nd Half Marathon event here in lovely Waterloo.  What a race!  What a day!  I think I'm still riding high on my runner's euphoria!!

As mentioned, I've been training pretty consistently for the past 9 weeks.  A schedule has been taped to the front of my fridge for all in my household to see, so there would be no confusion as to when Mom was going to be running.  I was able to keep to the schedule for the most part with some minor tweaks here & there to accommodate both my husband's & my work schedules.

My original goal was to run the 21kms in 2 hours.  After a few weeks of training I realized I just couldn't ramp up that fast.  I try to be as realistic as possible.  To achieve that time I would have to run an average pace of 5:40 per km.  At the time, I was still over 6:00 per km.  Not that I don't want to shoot for the stars but I'm slowly learning what I can & can not do...both physically & mentally...so I try not to stretch the boundaries too far all in one shot!

My adjusted goal was to come in under 2:15:00.  I'm very, very excited to say that I BEAT MY GOAL!!! Woo - frickin' - hoo!!!  Official time was 2:13:11.  That was about a 6:19 pace!  Pretty fantastic from my point of view.

The course itself was beautiful.  Out in the country for the most part, lots of nice scenery.  Not to say it wasn't challenging. There were some long slopes to climb.  It was a gorgeous day, although the wind at the beginning was bitter & worked to slow me down.  The race itself wasn't huge, only a few hundred participants in the combined Half & Full Marathon events.  The atmosphere was pleasant & cheerful; everyone from the participants to the event staff were very friendly.  Overall a great race that I would definitely consider doing again!

What's next?
Well definitely another Half Marathon.  Ideally I would like to find one between now & the heat of the summer.  The Whitby International Marathon (WIN) at the end of May may be an option.
I'm also considering a 30km event in August.  The only drawback here is the season & heat as well as the 3 weeks of holidays prior to the event that may get in the way of training.  Still undecided on this one...but more than likely will end up joining my friend & "virtual" running partner Christine for this one as well.

For now, I'm going to savor my success! :-)