A NEW PR!!!

Well, I just finished the Strawberry Plains Half Marathon, and I PR'd it! By about 14 minutes! My time was 2:15:10 for 13.18 miles (by Garmin - official results will be ~2 minutes slower because I paused Mr. Garmin for my potty break). It did take a little bit to get going again after the stop, but if I hadn't stopped heaven knows what would have happened.  There aren't many leaves on the bushes this time of year, if you know what I mean! 

Now, to be honest, when I was running in the late 90's and early 00's, I probably had faster runs than this.  I was in the Army, and I was pretty fit, and I know my times were faster because my two-mile PT test was always under 17 minutes.  Which is not blazingly fast, by any means, but it is a respectable pace.  However, I never really kept track of times back then. I just ran.  So, it's probably a PR solely because I didn't record the faster runs in those days.

However, it's a definite PR for the me of today, and that's really what matters, isn't it? Here are the splits:

1	00:09:44	1.00	09:44
2	00:09:28	1.00	09:29
3	00:09:34	1.00	09:34
4	00:10:02	1.00	10:03
5	00:09:45	1.00	09:45
6	00:09:55	1.00	09:55
7	00:10:41	1.00	10:42
8	00:10:22	1.00	10:22
9	00:10:26	1.00	10:26
10	00:10:30	1.00	10:30
11	00:11:01	1.00	11:01
12	00:10:31	1.00	10:31
13	00:11:14	1.00	11:15
14	00:01:48	0.18	10:11

Mile 7 was a GU break and right at mile 10 was a potty break, so mile 11 was a little slow - I had to get into my running stride again.  Mile 13 was slower simply because I'd been pushing it, and by that point I was just about pegged out.  That was okay, though - you know you've had a good run when you really think you might throw up at the finish line.  Presumably it's a great run if you DO throw up at the finish line, but that hasn't happened to me recently! 

The course was gorgeous - through lots of farmland and by a winding river - but it was very hilly.  This is East Tennessee, and one thing we have here in abundance is hills. However, since I've been doing a crapload a lot of hill training, the hills weren't so bad.  I didn't walk any of them, although plenty of people did. The big one was right around mile 7 - it seemed to go on forever! But I just kept plugging away, and that strategy worked.

Overall, I am pleased with my race today and I think this is evidence that my treadmill training strategy (which sucks, if I haven't mentioned that already) is at least effective.  I think I'll keep it up for another few weeks and then see what happens.

I just want to give a shout out here to all the folks who volunteer for races - my husband, my son and my son's fiancee all got up this morning and went to the race with me as volunteers.  About 90 people worked hard over two days so that some 700 others could enjoy a nice race on a gorgeous day.  Hug a volunteer, people!