River Valley Endurance Half Marathon Recap and a PR!

Hi y'all! Hopefully this post actually posts since we are on our way to Florida for a month and I don't have internet yet so I scheduled my posts! Before I get to my race recap I wanted to make sure to remind y'all to enter my Taffy Activewear giveaway.  It ends tonight at midnight!

I mentioned last week that I was really dreading my half marathon on Saturday. It was going to be a pretty small race and that always worries me because it's a pretty good chance I'll be last. I shouldn't worry about it but I do. Anyway...I went to pick up my packet on Friday and they gave us a map of the route so I decided to drive it. Part of my dread was that all I had heard from the local running group was how awful the course was. They said it was super hilly. When I drove it it did have hills but it didn't seem that bad. Route 66 and Hogeye were ridiculously hilly so I figured I could handle it.

I went in to this race with no intentions other than to finish it! I didn't have a time goal at all. I knew when I decided to do 14 half marathons this year I would have to be ok with finishing each one and not running my hardest. So I got up Saturday morning and an added bonus was that the race was only 5 minutes from our house so I didn't have to get up super early. It was super cloudy and I was just hoping to finish before it started to rain! 

When I got there they announced that there was 61 runners and 40 of those were running the half. The race started and I felt really good. I was surprised. I had some really bad runs leading up to this so I wasn't expecting to feel so great. At mile 1 I looked at my time and I was running a 12 min mile which is really fast for me when it's a long run. I usually average with my run/walk intervals a 14:30 mile for half marathons. I figured I would slow down and settle into my normal pace. It was hilly but it wasn't anything horrible. At mile 3 I checked my time again and I was running 13:00 min miles. I started to wonder if I could keep this up the entire time. If I did I would have a huge PR! My previous PR was last year at Rock n Roll Dallas and it was 3:15! Back of the pack runner! :)

This was my previous PR from last year

I hit the turn around at 1:25 and I couldn't believe it. I really kept expecting to slow down but it never happened. The only problem at this point was they ran out of water and it was hot! That was a little frustrating! The cloudy skies that they had forecast had disappeared and the sun was out. I just kept running along and sticking to my intervals. I was just so shocked that I was running so fast for me and my foot wasn't hurting at all. I seriously felt like I was flying and was having such a great time. The miles just kept going by and I was really enjoying each one. Races like these don't happen every time so I was really trying to enjoy it!

When I got to mile 12 I looked at my time and I knew I was going to break the 3 hour mark with no problem. This is a huge deal for me.  I know some people see it as super slow but I just don't care.  This is my speed and that's it.  I had long ago accepted my speed on long runs so I really had never planned on breaking the 3 hour mark this year.  I thought it would take a lot of speed work and I really wanted to focus on just finishing all my half marathons this year regardless of speed.  I got all teary as I rounded the corner by the finish line because I couldn't believe I had such a great race! I finished in 2:53:40 which is a 22 min PR! David and Colton were at the finish and it was just such a special day. I definitely had the runner's high the rest of the day.  I would love to someday finish around 2:45 so to realize that I could do it was just amazing!

Not my favorite medal but I'll take it!

I had several people ask me about my intervals and I wrote about the Galloway method and how I use it here.  Last year for all my half marathons I would run 2:30 and walk 30 seconds.  But after dealing with some injuries I have been running 1 minute and walking 25 seconds. It's been working great.  I've been injury free and have actually gotten faster with the shorter intervals.  I usually shorten my intervals for long runs so for this half marathon I ran 50 seconds and walked 25 seconds.  I finished 22 minutes faster using shorter intervals! Have I mentioned that Jeff Galloway is my hero? :)

A PR!!!

This half marathon made me super excited for all the rest that I have planned this year! Next weekend I have my next one and it's here in Florida! I'll be running the Rock n Fly. If any of y'all will be there let me know! Hopefully we will get all unpacked and settled and blogging will be back to a normal schedule. :)