Small Successes :)

First of all, I did have a pretty good week, training-wise. As previously posted, I ran 5 mi Monday, 6 mi Tuesday, and 7 mi Wednesday. Thursday was another beauuuutiful day, but I knew it would be wise to get in the pool (since I hadn't been in the pool since February when I was training for the indoor triathlon)...especially since my right IT band has begun its old tricky tricks again (UGH!). So, I paid a visit to the pool at the gym on Thursday night and did 30 minutes of pool running. Not my favorite, especially when I was literally aching to be outside in the fresh, warm air...but I know it was good for me. It felt great, and I still worked hard and felt like I got a good workout in.

Friday I took off from working out in order to gear up for the big race today :). Naturally, I feel like a slacker on most days that I "take off", but I survived :). I know recovery days are important!

Today.....the moment of truth came at 7:30am when the guns went off to start the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon in Springfield! Believe it of not, but prior to today, I had never been to Springfield (other than just driving past it on the highway). As we were driving in (I rode with my friends Jami and Adam....Adam drove us, which was great of him! Jami had registered for this race two months ago and it was her FIRST half marathon! I went to support her, and also because I was aching to race! I think I posted a few days ago...I kind of registered at the last minute on Wednesday! :)), it was pouring rain. UGH! The rain stopped about the time we got to Springfield, about 6:30 this morning. WHEW! It did sprinkle on and off throughout the morning during the race and did get a bit heavier at one point, but never down-poured during the race...which I am so thankful for! :)

The course was beautiful, really. As I said, I had never been to Springfield...so it was neat to see :). There were some parts of the course, though, that were a whole lot hillier than I had been expecting! I was thankful I have been doing some hill work lately!!

Jami stayed with me until just past the 4.5 mile point, which was great! She did awesome, especially considering it was just her FIRST half marathon! I am so proud of her!! :)

I got a personal best today, which made me feel great. I am still on a high from it :). I got an overall time of 1:49:57, 44th out of 499 women (top 10%!! :)), 6th out of 87 in my division (females 25-29)....and had a pace of 8:24! I felt great, and still do feel wonderful about it. I am glad that, with each race, I am able to make small improvements :).

Someone told me right before Chicago last year that, instead of just one goal, I should have three goals for myself: one that I will almost certainly attain, one that is a challenge but also within the realm of possibility, and then a third goal that would require me to REALLY push myself. My three goals, respectively, for the Chicago marathon were: 1) To finish! I had never run a marathon before, but still felt this was a goal I would almost certainly attain. 2) To finish in under 4 hours. When I started training last summer, my goal was to finish a marathon in under 4:30. After training hard, I figured I could probably get under 4 hours. 3) To qualify for the Boston Marathon. A definite long shot for my first marathon as the qualifying time for my age group is 3 hours, 40 minutes, 59 seconds....wowwwwie! I did end up meeting goal 1...I finished! I came close to goal 2....my time was 4 hours and 1 minute and 4 seconds. SO CLOSE!!!!! Goal 3....that one is still a work in progress!

My three goals for today were....1) to beat my previous half marathon times of approximately 1 hour, 57 seconds and 1 hour and 52 seconds. 2) to get a time under 1 hour, 50 seconds. 3) To get a time under 1 hour, 45 seconds. Today I met TWO of my three goals :). I received my best time yet and I got under 1 hour, 50 seconds (by just 3 seconds! ;)). Yahooo! :) :)

Silly story from this morning....Jami and I were picking up our race packets, and I pulled the t-shirt out of the back to check it out (always gotta check out the race t-shirt to see if it's a good one!)....and the first thing I saw on the t-shirt was the word "walked"....and I turned to Jami and said, "My shirt says, 'walked'...did I get the wrong shirt? I didn't sign up to walk!" Further inspection upon pulling the shirt entirely out of the bag revealed the logo: "Run where Lincoln Walked." HAHA!!! ;)

Now.....looking forward....four weeks til my next race (half marathon and the IL Marathon event at the U of I), and nine weeks til my next marathon! Egads! I have a LOT of work to do between now and then :).

Happy running, all! :)