I wasn't supposed to run a half marathon this Saturday. My youngest sister recently decided to get married on the day our middle sister was running this half. DD and I were going to run the 5K and then cheer on sister #2 but she hurt her foot and it wasn't going to be a big deal race anymore. She decided she didn't want cowbell and DD decided she didn't want to run. So I switched to the half.
I've been training for a short, hilly relay with friends and 13 was prescribed for the weekend so it was perfect. I decided to aim for a negative split race and try to close better at the end. In my last race I ran out of steam a half mile before the finish. My sister and I lined up with the 2:00 pacer and I figured I'd stick with them for a bit and see how I felt, then speed up later if I could.
I've been a member of Oiselle's volee for ~3 years and I was wearing a team singlet (over a long sleeve shirt). Another volee member ran up next to me around the start of mile 2 and introduced herself. We ran together for the next few miles. She had run (and paced) this race a number of times and gave me an idea of the topography. I enjoyed the conversation and the miles clicked by. And most importantly they didn't click by faster than either of us wanted: she had a more important race in a few weeks and I was happy to run 9's. I didn't need all of the water stops though, so lost her right around mile 6 and just a little before the one bigish hill.
The hill was right around halfway and I passed dozens more people on the way up by holding a good pace and then charging the top of the hill. Once I was at the top I took inventory, knew I felt good and picked up the pace a little. I passed all kinds of bands, an offer of donuts (nope), the mile 9 Guiness stop and lots of cute kids. It all kept me going. Now I was running 8:30, 8:15, 8:10. With 5k to go it started to feel a little tougher to hold the pace but I did my best. Kicked it in to finish the last mile in exactly 8 minutes and finish the race in 1:54:39. Pretty good for a training run and I felt fine the next day.
The rest of the day was a whirlwind of wedding prep, events and a late bedtime so it was pretty nice to start off the day in such an enjoyable way. I kind of want to go back next year and run this race again. I really liked it.
