If you've been following along, you probably already know my goal was under 2 hours. My last half, my official time was 2:09:20 in 2015. My first half in 2014 was 2:13:14. I knew it was a lofty goal to cut off 9:21 from my 2015 half, but I'd worked my tail off training, so I knew I could do it. Did I do it?! Nope! My official time was 2:03:30. Officially, I missed my goal by 3 minutes and 31 seconds. I thought I'd be really angry at myself for not hitting my goal, but I'm not. If anything, I'm even more determined to keep my training up and get to that goal. Once I'm under two hours, my goals will be adjusted and I'll keep chipping away at my time.
The course came up as 13.4 (it did also for my two friends who ran with me). I also had to stop to use the bathroom (which wasn't on a flat surface and felt like it was going to tip... scariest moment of the race haha). Nike+ said my half time was 1:59:37. But none of that is official and the official is all that matters. The race was extremely well organized. It started exactly on time. They also did a fantastic job of explaining how everything was going to work. My corral, number 7, got to the start line and were off and running at about 7:37 AM. Man, I'll tell ya. You can't beat that feeling once the race official starts. A total rush of adrenaline. I swear I had a huge smile on my face the first few miles. I've got some photos to show it, but I haven't purchased any. Once I do, I'll update and post those here. I was hoping to write this great race recap where I could tell you how I felt at each mile, but I can't. The race was a blur for me. The miles seemed endless and all ran together. With the exception of when I stopped to use the port-a-potty around mile 5, and that crossing the bridge over the Schuylkill seemed like torture. The DJ pumping music at the end of the bridge turned my attitude around and re-energized my mind. The course felt really long. Running Broad Street, I remember seeing City Hall, which I knew was about mile 6 and thinking "holy cow, I'm almost done". I never got that during this race. The miles (especially once the course left the city and went around the Schuylkill) seemed never ending. I remember thinking at one point the race would never end. I tried to relax and enjoy the moment. Yes, the races feel like they'll never end but they always do and when they do, it seems to have gone too quickly. It is a weird feeling and in the moment, I tried to remind myself of that and to really soak in all the excitement from the race. The week leading up to the race I ran twice. Three miles on Monday and two miles on Friday. I thought I'd have super fresh legs. But I didn't. Me, R, K and J walked around Philly the night before. We got to see a lot of the sites and it really made the whole weekend a great experience, but after walking over 5 miles, my legs were drained on Sunday. If I had to choose to do it again, I would. Memories like that don't happen often, so I'd rather be 3+ minutes off my goal. I've included some pictures of our adventuring above. A lot of things wrong for this race. I went out too fast. I'm usually so conservative running, but my body felt good for the first 3ish miles (minus my stomach acting up), so I just went with it. I didn't make myself slow down. Hindsight, I should have forced myself to pull back. I didn't eat enough before the race. I also didn't eat a proper dinner the night before, so my nutrition was way off. It was also humid. But all of those are excuses, I'm proud of my time. I've managed to cut off over 10 minutes from my first half and almost 6 minutes from my second half in 2015. I'm also proud of myself for staying positive (for the most part!). Yes, there were some moments it crossed my mind that maybe I couldn't do it or I should just quit, but I was pretty good about pushing those negative thoughts aside. Overall, am I disappointed I didn't hit my goal? Yes. Am I disappointed in how I did? No. I trained hard and consistently for the past 12 weeks. There are definitely some changes I'll be making to how I train (namely training at faster paces) but next half when I actually OFFICIALLY hit under two hours, it'll be an amazing feeling. Until I find my next half, I'm going to incorporate lifting, BBG and yoga back into my training. If I want to get faster, I'll need to be stronger too. If you have anything more specific you'd like to know, please let me know. That's all for now! XOXO, Run Wilk
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