Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New Year's Double

A couple months ago, I came across some information about a New Year's Eve and New Year's Day race. You had the choice of running any combination of a 5k, 1/2 marathon, 1/2 marathon relay and a full marathon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Being the overachiever I am (and knowing my training was seriously lacking), I registered to run the half marathon both days. 

No problem, I thought. I've got the training in the bag. Yeah right. My longest run was 2 weeks before the race and that was only 10 miles. Not once did I do any type of back to back long runs. I knew this was going to be a painful experience. But, I wasn't going to not run and I wasn't going to change what I had registered for. 

New Year's Eve morning dawned bright and chilly. But as soon as the sun came up, it started warming up =) 

The motley looking crew that ran that day... 

 

Spark John and Agent J were dressed in their finest and Coach Nancy and I are just naturally that gorgeous- the tiaras just enhanced it =) 

The race started and I had to keep telling myself to slow day and take it easy. The course was a two loop course along biking/ hiking trails. It was actually pretty nice. Just one tunnel (went through 4 times) that messed with everyone's Garmins. 

I was pretty happy with my time. It wasn't my fastest, but it wasn't my slowest either. And considering that I haven't run a half since right before I found out I was pregnant (August 2010)... 

Results from New Year's Eve: 

TT: 2:04:22 (my Garmin had me at 13.57 miles) 
103 out of 411 
59 out of 279 females 
20 out of 85 age group 
AP: 9:30 (9:09 my Garmin) 

And what do you do after running a half marathon on New Year's Eve? Why, pop open a bottle of champagne and enjoy a toast with your crazy running peeps! 

 

I had great plans of getting to bed early and getting enough sleep, but my kids all conspired against me. Sweet Pea didn't want to sleep because she was all snuffed up and couldn't breathe and the other 3 were so excited about being able to stay up that they kept blowing their horns. I think I finally managed to get a couple hours sleep before the alarm went off. Up and at it, I got moving- just a wee bit slower than the day before =) 

Got to the race site and realized it was windier than the day before. It would have been nice to have a windbreaker... But, no matter. My running peeps were there ready to run again. Well, all except Agent J- he seemed to think that celebrating his anniversary was more important than running with us ;) 

Knowing that I was a bit sore from the day before, I gave myself "permission" to take it easier. You know, run 10 minute miles instead of 9 =) But, I actually felt pretty good once I got going, so increased my average pace. Two loops seemed to go by pretty fast. Or maybe it was just the de je vue I was experiencing... 

Results from New Year's Day 1/2 Marathon: 
TT: 2:09:18 (my Garmin had me at 13.49 miles) 
116 out of 354 
53 out of 215 females 
14 out of 69 age group 
AP: 9:52 (9:34 my Garmin) 

And the main reason for torturing myself like this: 

 

Yup, it's all about the bling =) Three medals- one for each day and then the challenge plate to display them both. 

And I also go two very nice tech shirts- one short sleeved and one long sleeved. 

So, there you have it. A great way to close out 2011 and a great way to kick off 2012. If your in the Dallas area this time next year, this race should make your list.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the nice words about the event. It was great to meet the "Spark People crowd" on Saturday! Appreciate you guys coming out, and so happy you enjoyed the event!

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