Today was Half Marathon Day, and I think it is very safe to say that it was a success!
I knew going in that I wouldn't be able to run the entire thing, just because of my subpar training, but my goal was to run the first 7 miles and then alternate walking/running for the remaining 6 miles. I'd hoped to finish within 3 hours, since I'm not super speedy :) Of course the ultimate goal was just to finish, the chance of which I was rather doubtful of last night, but I'm happy to say 2 out of 3 goals were achieved!
I ran the first 7 miles straight through, and then stopped at 7 and walked a mile, ran a mile, walked 2 miles and then ran the final 2 miles - so in total I ran 10 of the 13 miles!! I thought my legs were going to spontaneously detach at the hips by the end, but the point is I made it to the end!! I came in at 3:02, which is a bit longer than I'd hoped for, but almost on target. It's annoying to think that if I'd just pushed myself a bit harder at the beginning, or walked a bit faster during the walking bits, I could have been in under 3:00. NEXT TIME!!
I'm not going to lie - the last few miles were tough, especially given my fear of spontaneous amputation, but that feeling when I could finally see the finish line, and I knew I would make it to the end, was amazing! I also had a super cheering squad of some friends from Swansea, whose crazy loud yelling gave me the energy to pick up the pace for the last 350 meters. Never again will I underestimate the power of cheering spectators!
So, there we go - this goal has been achieved! Now I have to pick another race...I want to work on my time, so I'm thinking some shorter ones so I can focus on getting faster rather than distance. I'll keep you posted :) In the mean time, here are some photos from the day...
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| Cardiff Millenium Centre: site of the longest lines for port-a-potties in the history of the universe. Also, the starting line. |
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| Me and Alex (my super fast running buddy - 1:55!! Go Alex!) before the race. My lovely friend/his lovely wife Anne was our early morning cheering squad, emergency contact, photographer and supply carrier :) |
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| Stretching out our pre-race jitters... |
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| There were 15000 runners there today! |
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| Go Wales! They love all sporty things and dragons. |
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| Almost finished!! 350 metres to go... |
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| I just found the Swansea cheering squad - hence the smile. Trust me, by this point I would not have been smiling if I hadn't seen them! |
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| Medals! And free massages! Fantastico! |
Yes yes yes!!! Go Ingrid! I'm seriously so impressed with you. What an inspiration you are :)
ReplyDeleteHow about a Scotland half next? Or Iceland?? So many possibilities!! And you'll have to push me to do it, obviously, since running is not my forte :)
Yay Go Ingrid :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy for you!
Don't worry about the time at all, you can change that easy. The main thing for your first event is to finish and enjoy it so you can sign up for another one and get an even better time :)
I don't we don't get the pumpkin spiced latte here but you should try the creme brulee macchiato as a reward for being so fantastic!