Today was the Plate River Half-Marathon, the half-marathon I signed up for after failing to finish the Boulder Half.
How did it go one might ask?
Awesome, especially compared to the Boulder Half because this time I finished the whole 13.1 miles! After the Boulder half-marathon, everyone was really supportive, they would remind me that going for 10 miles is still a pretty big achievement and I shouldn't feel too terribly about not finishing. However, after spending so much time and energy training, I couldn't help but feel disappointed with myself for not sticking it out and finishing the race. However, thats all water under the bridge because I finished my half-marathon today thereby achieving my goal of running a half-marathon!
The weather today was just about perfect, at least the temperature was... mid 40's low 50's, partly cloudy. However, the wind... OMG, I ran most of that marathon with the wind blowing straight at me, there were points where it felt as though I wasn't moving forward even though my legs were working! I could have done without the wind. My total time was 3 hours 10 minutes, and I think apart of that had to do with the wind, but I'm not going to complain next time I'll do better... 3 hours 10 minutes is better than not finishing at all.
Planning for today went a lot smoother than with the Boulder half. For starters, we arrived WAY early instead of late. We were able to get a good parking spot instead of having to fight everyone else to get in, we had time to enjoy a good breakfast without having to rush and I got to walk around and warm up before the race started. Slight equipment malfunction, my running belt was too loose and I had to stop and try to tighten it at the beginning which didn't work all that well until I made a pit stop half way through the course. Unfortunately, the result is a really sore knot at the base of my spine where it bounced and rubbed for the first 6.5 miles.
One thing I found amusing was when we all started. They sent us off in waves depending on our estimated finishing time and running in a large pack of people can get somewhat hypnotic as you watch everyone's head bob up and down, up and down in a rhythmic fashion.
Thats pretty much all I can write at this point being that I'm very tired and sore and my brain doesn't seem to want to function. All in all, I'm really happy about my performance today. It wasn't perfect, there is definitely room for improvement but I made it through in the end and thats all that matters.
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