This morning I ran my best ever half marathon time: 1:57:39 – 13.1 miles at an 8:59 pace. At 7:30 in the morning, on not nearly enough sleep and less than ideal conditions.
I'm pretty stoked about this for multiple reasons. The first is that I feared that
I'd lost an awful lot of my fitness since I left London. (Yes, I have been working out in New York, but – as I've bleated on about – at neither the length nor intensity I did in London. Though perhaps lately I've been working out more efficiently? Anyway.) The second is that I pulled this off with not quite enough training: Among other things, I didn't start running again until about 10 weeks ago, and the longest run I did was 9 miles, done two weeks ago.
Third, the conditions for this particular race sucked – at least for marshmallow-livered me. It was literally freezing outside -- thanks to a case of Raynaud's (you're online already, so page Dr. Google ;)), the cold and I do not get along. And we had to be in our corrals (makes us sound like farm animals, no?) no later than 7:10 am, so I had 20 minutes of standing around freezing. (Why didn't I just layer up? Well, I did, but Raynaud's in particular affects my toes and fingers, and I can't wear multiple pairs of socks and run). I literally couldn't feel my toes for the first mile.
Fourth, my headphones broke about halfway through the race.
Finally, I can remember a time in the not-too-distant past when running a 10-minute mile was a big deal (and heck, when running a mile at all was a huge deal, whatever the speed). Running 13 miles at sub-9 minutes made me feel, for lack of a better word, like something approaching an athlete.
Crazy.
***
Another reason I was psyched about my race time: I'm a week post-binge. Yes, the inevitable – or so it seemed – London binge. I am beyond exhausted between the travel, the subsequent week of working until midnight every night, and yes, the race (though really, more that my West Village neighbors, aka the bars, kept me awake until nearly 2:30 am when I had to be up at 5:30 am). So more on the previous soon, though I will say I'm not beating myself up about it nearly as much as usual. Another step forward, it seems.
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That's fantastic, well done!
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Amazing! Congratulations!!!
ReplyDeletewow.. I am in awe of anyone that runs long distance. No matter how much I do it, I never enjoy it for some reason and nor do I seem to improve. Yoga however.. :)Sprinting up hills is also kind of fun. Just thinking about a long run makes me lose the will to live.
ReplyDeleteWhen I travel I MUST take earplugs. No matter where I go, my accommodation usually manages to be somewhere over a German bar or club that never closes. I've found 'Protech' to be superior at blocking the bass noise. They have two types - squishy ones, if you like to side-sleep, and slightly better 'omega symbol' shaped ones that really do the job but you have to sleep on your back. They have saved my sanity many, many times.
Holy Moly Beth! Your time is nothing short of amazing...(bowing down at your feet). You're not only back, you're better than ever.
ReplyDeleteI learned a little trick last month at the race I was in (my first!) - a lot of people wore layers of clothes that they wanted to donate. That way, the clothes still gets donated and you don't have to worry about carrying anything or losing it - you just give it away. I thought that was a great idea!
BTW the lady who won the Disney Princess Half Marathon did it in 1:22 - you're not that far behind that - wow!
(I am a snail-runner, only aspiring to finish...but I admire runners like you!)
Holy moly I bow down to you, Ms Speedy :) Congratulations! And double congrats for the not beating yourself up so much post binge. Hope London was good...
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