Phoenix 1/2 Marathon

This was a good one.

I knew that I had wanted to run this, but wasn't 100% since I knew it'd be the weekend after the Ultra Ragnar. Since I had never run 34 miles in a 24 hour period before (like I did for Ragnar), and having just recovered from stress fractures in my femurs, I didn't know how I'd feel or what condition my body would be in. But I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt after Ragnar. My right knee was sore, but I'm sure it's just IT band stuff, so I wasn't too worried about that. And I know my legs weren't at 100%, but felt like I could still do the half. So I drug Ryan with me to the start dark and early.

My pre-race breakfast:

wheat toast with peanut butter, bananas, honey and chia seeds.

Mmmmmm... I'm addicted.

I usually eat two pieces, but I didn't want to be burping it up while I was running, so I stuck to just one.

How cool was this? The bagpipers leading the runners to the start up on Usery Pass.

So we started towards the front, and I wasn't sure what kind of pace to try. I felt good, but I also wanted Ryan to be able to keep up, and he hadn't been running much at all.

So for the first 4 miles, it was a decent down hill and we did about an 8:05 pace.

Mile 5 it leveled out, and I tried to maintain that pace, but I was worrying about Ryan.

So right when we hit mile 5, Ryan gave me the go ahead, and he hung back.

I debated just staying with him since I knew I hadn't trained for, and my body wasn't in shape for a PR. But I also just wanted to run at a fast but totally comfortable pace. So I just kept going.

And that was my strategy for the rest of the race. I found another runner who was running at my pace, and I just stuck with her, and didn't look at my watch until mile 12.

When I finally did look down, I saw that I was totally going to get my PR. CRAP!! Why didn't I run faster?!

So I surged ahead of her, and pushed up the last hill to come in just barely still at 1:48.

Then I hit up all the goodies!

This race had the best finish food! I got a giant cinnamon roll for crying out loud! As well as strawberry Rocket Fuel (my favorite post race drink!), Jamba Juice, granola, fruit, cookies, yogurt pretzels, the list goes on.

They know what runners like.

Then I ran back to the finish to look for Ryan.

He came through at 1:58 and just said, "water!"

He rehydrated, then made his way to the medic tent to get his knees iced.

Silly boy. He doesn't train for these things, but comes with me anyway.

I appreciated that though. I was worried he'd back out that morning, but nope, he ran. Untrained. And still PR'd!

It was a perfect morning for a run.

The race was well run.

And I am definitely doing it again next year!

Oh, also I got my new shoes!

I tried the Brooks Pure Flow hoping to find a cheaper natural running shoe. But sadly my feet didn't like them. I can wear them for shorter runs, but over 5 miles, and I'm hurting.

So back to my beloved Newtons. I guess you just stick with what works.

So pretty.