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.