What a Joke.

I'm not a very serious person. I'd say I'm almost never 100% serious. Even if I'm having a serious conversation... I tend to insert jokes. I'm silly. I can't help it.

BUT the one thing I have been the most serious about is running/training...until this past summer. I don't know if it was my lack of desire to train in the summer or too many distractions or work or WHAT but I didn't train as hard as I should have. Today I "ran" the Rock n' Roll half.
My finishing time: 2:23:51. I PRed. I could have done A LOT better if I didn't lose steam around mile 9. For the first time in my life I experienced what it felt like to feel really dehydrated in a race. At every water stop I was guzzling 2-3 cups of water/Cytomax. It was as if the water stops couldn't come soon enough.

Look at these splits:
5k-- 30:02 (PR for official race)
10k-- 1:01:51 (PR for official race)
(And I was just jogging comfortably)

10 mile-- 1:47:30
11.4 mile-- 2:02:55
12.3 mile-- 2:13:53

One complaint I have... for being a HUGE race the finish line sucked. There were blow up arches along the course but the finish line was not marked with a huge arch that could be seen from a distance. The last mile or so was a straight shot on the board walk but it was impossible to tell how close we were to the finish. Meh. Oh and for the record Miller GD64 also sux.But you probs already knew that, even if you've never tried it. Today was my first time.

Also today the first time in my life I used the "Galloway" method in a half marathon...meaning I ran out of steam around mile 9 and started taking walk breaks. My initial goal was 2:10:00ish. I hit sub 10 min miles for the first 10k. When the heat started getting to me I decided on a 2:15ish goal... and somewhere between miles 9 and 13.1....I decided as long as I PRed I'd be happy. I guess I did a good job of "listening to my body." I didn't die. And I wasn't carried out on a stretcher. Both good things.

My finishing time isn't what I'm frustrated with. I managed to PR taking walk breaks versus the other 3 races where I jogged the entire thing. What a joke.

Right now I think I'm stunned that I seem to have lost a bit of a passion for running. I don't know why. Maybe because my running buddy moved away? Maybe because the good friends who originally got me into running halvsies aren't my good friends anymore? Maybe I just want to run and not do a long race? Or maybe I'm just tired because I've been up since 5am? I feel numb right now. I think I'll stick with 5-6 mile runs until I get inspiRED to do another half. Which could very well be the Shamrock because that's the only half I've found so far that I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.


On more positive notes: I'm really excited about the yellow tank top I got for this race. The Virginia Beach Rock n' Roll Half has blue and white theme colors. I thought yellow would go well with the blue. Blue is so boring...

And I had a Red Robinnnnnnn Whiskey River Burger after the race. YUM.