4th Half Makes Two Wholes?

Yes, I paid a bunch of money to run another Half Marathon. I officially started my training the end of August. Let me just say, if I can't go to a soft gravel trail like Pflugerville Lake (which actually makes speed hard, thank you Jamie P for that obvious to everyone else info) or Lady Bird Lake, I'm quite happy to run on a treadmill. Street running is boring. Which is funny, because the races I do are all pavement. I know, I'm weird.  Running with a good music playlist and the treadmill showing me time, pace, and mileage just puts me in a zone. It's my self care, it's decompressing, it's my cardio, and it makes me conquer hard things. I also only run twice a week on average. I don't run much more then that for two reasons, one, my knees start speaking to me if I run 3-4 a week, and two, I have other workouts I enjoy doing, like Body Pump (choreographed weights) and Body Combat (mixed martial arts/choreographed kickboxing). 

 I digress... I started my training August 28th. On August 31st I ran 7 miles in 63 minutes, probably a personal best on the treadmill.  The next Saturday I ran it in 62:50. By September 8th I started my 8 mile runs. That day I challenged my brother to 8 miles. I did it in 73:41. I think his time was 73:50. BAM!  September was a hot month in Texas. I'm a wimp when it comes to humidity and running outside in Texas so it wasn't until October 5th that I did my first long run outside. I went to Lake Pflugerville for a 10 mile run. It's a 3 mile loop. Usually the wind whips off the water, but the lake is super low right now, and that gave it less wind. I was not happy at all with my time. I did it in 1:48:40.  It was super hard and at one point I stopped and wanted to cry. It was also in the 80's by the time I finished. I decided that I needed to bump up my nutrition and my hydration and spend the week focusing on that. No sweets during the week and more fruits and veggies. The next weekend I decided to try it again. This time it was in the 50's when I started. There was more wind, and my left ear bud never synched. BUT, I ran with less fatigue and I felt so much better. 

I ran 10 in 1:43, 5 minutes faster. 

Now as you can see, I am not a fast runner by running standards. Outside I am lucky if I average a 10 minute mile. On the treadmill I average 9:05 minute miles.  But I love the way I feel after I finish a run. I feel on top of the world. I know many people don't run, because it is hard. It is hard! But I can do hard things. That became my mantra for my 4th Half Marathon, and second attempt at the Hill Country Halloween Half on October 26, 2019.  

My first Half Marathon was April 1st, 2017, the "I Ran Marathons" in San Antonio. I did it in 2:26:52. Then March 2018 I did the "Zooma" Half at Lost Pines in 2:26:41. Those hills about killed me! Then October 2018 I did the "Hill Country Halloween Half" in 2:12:11.

Yesterday morning I lined up with the crowd at 7:30am. I had a really cute tank top with a skeleton print, but it was 48 degrees F and a pumpkin jacket from a previous 5K covered it up. I had my belt with gatorade, Guu, and 4 kleenex (one for every 3 miles if needed). My ear buds were charged and synched. I lined up between the 2:10 and 2:20 pacer flags. I wanted to do it in 2:10, but wasn't sure I could really do that. Fun side note, the guy holding the pacer flag was the son of a former patient of mine. I actually saw him last year when he was just a participant.

 On your mark, get set, go!  7:32 am we were off! I had a mental plan for the race. Mile 2 I'd think of my nephew Logan. Mile 4 I'd think of Abby my niece, and mile 6 I'd think of Adam. When it got tough I focused on the beat of the music, or thinking about friends I associated with songs. (Michelle Clements gets "Sexy Chick" and Suzanne Harman gets "My Body".) I thought about my mom and how she can do hard things, she's bouncing back from a broken ankle. I kept up with the 2:10 pacer miles 1-3 and even passed him up for awhile on mile 3 (9:25 pace). Mile four I started to slow a little (10:00), but still felt good. Mile 5 had a hill (10:16). Mile 6 was a gradual downhill (9:28), I love down hill!  But let me tell you, mile 8 was a BEAST!  The whole mile is a gradual hill. That is when I lost the pacer group, I never could catch back up. Looking back I was shocked though, I still managed 10:24 for that hill. During that time a slow song came up on my playlist. I started to change it to something more powerful, but the song was "Novidade", a Brazilian song in honor of my dad. My dad is tough, he can do hard things!  I kept ploughing through to Novidade!  Somewhere during mile 9 (9:55) my right hip flexors started getting angry. My pace and my motivation started to slow. Mile 10 was the worst, 11:55 due to a sore body and a FAST potty stop that probably cost me 45 seconds. Mile 11 was 11:12, and mile 12 I played leap frog with another woman who was clearly struggling. She would stop and stretch or pound on her left hamstring, and I would pass her, then I would slow to a fast walk and pound on my hip with my fist and she would pass me. Somewhere on this mile 12 (11:34) I passed her and never saw her again.  Mile 12 and 13 actually went by fast in my mind. By now I knew my mom and my brother and his family were waiting at the finish line (thank goodness for encouraging text messages). Knowing people are there at the end keeps you going, literally!!! And there they were.

I crossed the finish line with my personal tracker saying 2:15:14, and it felt good. Not my 2:10 goal, but better then my fears told me I would do the few days before race.

(Thank you Emily for this photo!)

Here's a comparison of my last 3 races.  I think if my hip hadn't started screaming at me, my last 4 miles would have been faster, but I'm still completely satisfied with my race yesterday.

So then I went to eat breakfast with my brother and his delightful family, then home and put on compression stocks and elevated my feet while lying on the floor. The rest of the day was spent hydrating, eating, resting, watching football, and sporting my race temporary tattoo and new race shirt.

Here is my cross training calendar, my cool finisher medal, and the gorgeous bouquet my mom gave me divided into a variety of vases.

And a delicious pizza to round out the day!

I CAN DO HARD THINGS!