Sunday, May 1, 2011

Half Marathon

Wow. I'm sore. But I'm halfway to a full marathon!



Finished a half today in 2:06:14, which I'm fairly happy with, though I was gunning for under two hours. The BMO Vancouver Marathon is a nice course for the half -- goes through downtown and around the sea wall. The hill up to Prospect Point was a bit of a killer, but after that it was (almost) all downhill.

After all the training in the cold, dark nights of January with the Runner's Den clinic, it was so great to cap it off with the big finale, 21.1 km! The first 11 km felt like nothing. Then between 11 km and 15 km my legs started to hurt. Somehow I managed to find another gear after the hill but then I think I must have slowed again at about the 19 km mark. Felt pretty good basically the whole way, though. The hill and track training definitely helped. So great to have a nice sunny day to run after this long, tedious spring we've had.

After the run it was champagne and orange juice, a post-race tradition my mom started years ago.


Then a long, hot shower and a nap before the running clinic after party. And now I'm totally pooped and am walking like an old woman. Going to take off at least two weeks from running (Paul, the Running Den owner, says you should take off a day for every mile you run in a race, so I am allowed to take 13 days). Going to keep up with yoga, walking, climbing, maybe a bit of cycling or swimming and then resume running in June.

And start training for a marathon!

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