PR!

So I have been training vary hard over the past few months, and yesterday, I finally got to test how well my training would pay off.

Saturday night brought a Philly Runners Dinner at Marra's in South Philly. A large group attended, and Ryan kept us all amused by scheming to steal cake from 4-year-olds celebrating their birthday. I have to admit the cake did look awfully tempting. And I think we could have taken the 4-year-olds.

Sunday morning I woke up at 6 am and had my race morning meal of sweetened oatmeal. Out the door at 6:30am to pick up Andy and Bear for the ride down to Wilmington. Left Philly at about 7 am and by the time we got to Wilmington it was on and off pouring and not looking like a great race day. I was nervous and pumped for this race at the same time. I had trained very hard, and wanted the result to show it. But I haven't had many great races in the last year, so I didn't want to be dissapointed again.

The cannon went off, and we were on our way. I don't tend to run my races with other people (even other Rhilly Runners members) because I tend to get sucked into faster or slower paces than I want. Usually this ends badly. My target goal was 1:50 or 8:23 min/mile pace.
Mile 1: 8:15
Mile 2: 8:11
Mile 3: 8:19
Mile 4: 8:17 These 1st 4 miles I got into a good pace groove. A little under goal pace, and I wonder if I will pay for this later. I feel great though
Mile 5: 7:54 Bump into Marita and Erin and run with them for awhile. But their pace is a bit too fast so I slow it up going into the hills.
Mile 6: 8:41 Arg, hills. I slow down more than I had hoped but continue on.
Mile 7: 8:49 Hills continued. Somewhere near the end of this mile I see Seebo and Kevin and Ian and a few others making there way back. This pumps me up and I gain momentum.
Mile 8 & 9: 16:42 (Avg 8:21) Even though the big hill is over, a series of seemingly endless smaller hills ensues. I am running strong though and feel great. I know I am running a great race.
Mile 10: 8:19 By the end of this mile I know that I have a PR even if I slow down significantly for the remainder of the race.
Mile 11: 8:19 Pretty consistent.
Mile 12: 8:03 I think we are going downhill here, but I also was booking it, knowing I didn't have much left, and wanted to PR by as much as possible.
Mile 13 + 0.1: 9:11 The hill at the end nearly killed me. I came around the corner and felt like it was time to sprint, but could not go any faster. My body was already at it's max. I am floating when I cross the finish line....

1:49:03 Chiptime in my second half-marathon. 1 minute under my goal time of 1:50 and a PR by nearly 4.5 minutes. I can't help but wonder what I might have run without any hills!

I slept most of the way home, and I am very sore today, but as tired as I am, I feel awesome. A few days off, and an easy week, then I start in training for Broad Street.

Caesar Rodney

1:49:04 for Half-Marathon, under my goal time of 1:50
Will Post Race Report later.

New Running Toy

I received a new running toy on Monday. The Polar RS200 with footpod. It measures speed, distance and heartrate. The best part is that all my data can be downloaded to my computer and an online training diary via the microphone on my computer. This system is much less expensive than a lot of the GPS and other systems out there at $199 (I got it for less at RRS with discounts). Has some cool features like an autolap feature that will record lap times at whatever distance you set it at, or a feature that will turn on the backlight, take a lap or do one of several other things if you bring the watch close to the heart strap. I haven't calibrated the footpod, and I think it is actually over-estimating how far I am running. One thing I was suprised by is how high my heart rate is when I feel like I am running "easy". I am not sure what I am going to do with this information yet though, as I feel like if I slow down more, I will be going impossibly slow.