Sunday, March 14, 2010

Amazed and Delighted - sub 2 hour half marathon

Last week I blogged, "I would be amazed and delighted to run this pace for the half marathon, finishing at a total time of 1:59."

And here I am having done just that. I finished a half marathon in 1:59:32 (9:07 pace).
This completely blew me away and I did it with my brother Eddie running with me illegally handing me fuel and words of encouragement. The last three miles I ran negative splits!
8:40, 8:50, 8:40!

My brother Eddie coached me through the whole race by my side and really helped me push a consistent pace all the way to the end. It felt great to finish so much faster than my last race in Sept, which was 2:27!

Just goes to show you how much faster you can get when your train consistently and have great support around you. Now what should I do next?

Saturday, March 06, 2010

8 miles again

Today I felt great and pushed hard for 8 miles.
By mile 5 I was right on a 9 minute pace at 45:00.
Things got a bit dodgy and confusing when I followed some training partners past a turn off. But my final time was somewhere near 73:00 (9:07) and by last mile was the fastest!

This was four minutes faster than I ran this distance just a month ago.

Next week is a light week as we rest before our half marathon on March 14th.
I would be amazed and delighted to run this pace for the half marathon, finishing at a total time of 1:59.

There will be a pacing teams there so I guess I'll start with the 2 hour pacing team and see where that leads me. If I fade at the end of the race at least I'll start with being hopeful. I know you are supposed to start conservatively but I know I can run this pace for almost 9 miles (might as well hope the last 4 I can maintain this pace). We shall see!