So, Rock n’ Roll half marathon — we met again. I did not conquer all this year but I have never regretted a race. Despite feeling achy and slow during this 13.1, I still enjoyed being in the midst of it all.

After completing Crossfit Open WOD 13.2 on Thursday morning, I didn’t think I’d still be hurting from it on Saturday morning. WRONG. After six+ rounds of push presses and deadlifts, my shoulders and arms were killer. Just achy and irritating the entire race. I kept trying to shake them out but to no avail.

Amy and I met Maggie at 6am to head to the metro and on to the race. It was already mass craziness when we arrived about 6:45. I wasn’t able to meet up with Back on My Feet like planned but luckily ran into a few folks along the way.

The weather was 10 degrees warmer than predicted (yay!) and the rain held off — thank god. I’m always getting lucky with weather (knock on wood) so…all was well in that department. Amy and I started with Maggie in corral 2 even though we were definitely not nearly as fast as that crew.

All dim visions of running the full marathon were soundly crushed within the first mile. I felt slow, sluggish and achy. Ooof, this was going to be a long race. Since that was the case, I decided to just got with flow and not be uncomfortable.

I ran comfortably and took in the scenery. For whatever reason, half-marathons never feel very long to me. The miles just sail by and I mostly enjoy it. Call me crazy! I ran into Theodora and Fiona mid-way through and chatted with them for a bit but they were definitely more speedy than I (and then Theodora got a 5 minute PR of 1:50 — hello!).

Then, I ran into my friend Jean from Back on My Feet, chatted with her for a bit and said, “okay gotta slow down, see ya later!” and happily went back to my lazy pace. I was also excited to run into some BoMF guys at the water stops — so excited to see them and feel encouraged.

When we hit the marathon/half-marathon split, I was a little sad. I really hate veering off to half-marathon territory and looked longingly at the full marathoners (I’m sure some were looking longingly at me!) It didn’t help that I saw Shaya right then and for a split second considered jumping over. But I knew that would a pretty darn terrible idea so I kept on. 

As I headed past mile 12, the clock read 1:59. I was thinking — wow, if I hit goal time in the future, I will be 9 minutes DONE by now. But oh well…mile 12 was my slowest of all and as I cruised to the Finish Line, it was pretty anti-climactic. I wasn’t even really out of breath or fatigued. Crazy, I know.

I finished in 2:10 — actually faster than I’d have imagined since I felt so slow. So yeah, nearly 20 minutes slower than my best but not every race can be a winner. There is always a feeling of disappointment when you know you could have trained for worked harder but either way, I’m glad I ran it.

Afterward, I had planned to stick around and watch my BoMF guys finish but I was so cold and not feeling well that I figured I should probably go home. I feel so bad that I didn’t stay to watch but my planning skills have never been something to brag about.

A few hours later, I met up with some of my favorite friends and bloggers (“blends” if you must!) at Churchkey for some post-race hangout time. Love when my New York friends come to town to run! Laura ran her 85th marathon and Theodora and Anne PR’d! Way to go ladies!

Me, Laura, Theodora, Emily

Churchkey is a pretty darn cool place with some awesome beers. Since I’m taking it easy on the booze these days, I just had a sampler glass of a delicious dark wheat beer. After the meet up, I was dead tired. A slow half-marathon is still 13 miles of running and this body was ready to chill.

I’ve read so many race reports from the weekend — we all must have just been in go mode! After writing yesterday’s post about my sister’s kick ass PR marathon, I’m feeling the running juices start to kick in. Pretty soon, the weather will remember it’s nearly April and start to be warm. When that happens, I’ll be ready to bust out some serious miles.