Williamsburg 1/2 Marathon

It sure felt like the right idea Saturday morning during indoor cycling. As everyone else was getting ready for there 14 miler after the bike, I was chilling. Until Susie & Rick reminded me of how hilly Williamsburg is and warning me that the 2nd half of this race was miserably uphill. Sweet.

Then Sunday morning, I realized there was no really good way to plan nutrition for a 1pm race start when you had to be there by 11:30 to register the unregistered peeps and it was an hour away. Figured on consuming plenty of Gu.

What I didn't know is that there are only 4 water stops on the course: at miles 2.5, 6, 7 (!), and 10. WTF. Can't consume Gu without water. So I had Gu at miles 2.5 and 7. I realized at mile 6 that I was starving. This is when I realized that the water stops were literally water stops. No sportsdrink, no fruit, no frills. Wow. That's hardcore. This race cost $50. The shirt is cotton. Water only on the course. Afterwards, I saw 2 water coolers & 2 sportsdrink coolers along with coffee, lemonade & beer. The water & sportsdrink were getting the most action. No one was near the coffee & lemonade. I saw bananas afterward. No fruit. There was a rumor of bagels, but I never saw them. So I'm wondering what my $50 paid for.

Anyway, it was great to ride down with a van full of peeps - I've got to say that going to races with good friends and having a lot of fun for hours and hours before & after races beats the crap out of just racing and heading home. Can't wait to do a race waaaayy out of town with a bunch of good friends....hmmmm... IMTX?

The race itself was good. DB, Patty, J9 and I all agreed that the goal was to start slow - somewhere in the 11 to 11:20 range. Our first mile was 10:15. Uh oh. We talked for another 5 miles about slowing down. We kept trying. But every time we'd hit a downhill, we were under pace. I don't think I was alone worrying about the road back - especially this very nice long downhill we flew through the Golden Horseshoe golf course. Only bright side was the very long uphill we climbed afterward would be a nice lead in back up that the ugly hill.

Bottom line is I didn't even know what my 1/2 marathon PR was before this race. I thought it was either 2:15 or 2:20. Thanks to Rick & Susie, I knew to put that out of my mind and just aim for the official results cut off of 2:30. I finished by my watch in 2:18:39 (and learned that my Garmin puts the course at 13.22 miles - what a bonus). Official results haven't been posted, but I crossed the line at 2:19:45 per the race clock. Later on I learned that my PR for a 1/2 was 2:28:54! Guess there is some good in training because I'm now faster than I was 8 years ago on a tougher course. How sweet is that?

Next up: outdoor biking after 4 months of indoor cycling. I'm very interested to see how that goes.

So far, so good

Mea Culpa or whatever. I'm here now, so quit your whining ;-)

Training has been going well. Very well, really. I've dropped a couple more pounds - still several from my overall goal weight, but I'm feeling very fit. Very, very fit.

Training at Maramarc with Trigirls/TriQuest has been very good this "off-season". Ed has been killing us for both the weights & the cycling, which has been very effective. I think I'm faster on the bike (we'll know soon as outdoor cycling starts in just a couple of weeks). My running is getting faster, but more importantly, that nasty little voice that's ALWAYS told me it's OK to walk has been remarkably quiet. A new voice (I think it may be Annn and perhaps J9) is reminding me to push myself on the run. Feeling good, that's nice, but couldn't you go just a bit harder? Cool. I like that voice. I hope it stays with me for the IMTX marathon - I am very excited to take this "new" body and voice out for a IM spin, but also very afraid of bonking.

ProKaren has helped my swimming. I still need to find a Masters swim that I can be awake for and then not yawn through the entire workday AND that doesn't interfere with cycling. If you're reading this, please come swim with me.

I had a great time at the VA Beach 14k this weekend. Not so much the running - what a miserable course - but the company made up for it all. Would have been even more fun with our missing peeps, but still a good time. And we found a cheap, excellent restaurant: Nick's on 30th St in VA Beach. Doesn't look like much and the wine selection should be skipped, but the food was really good. So good that we went back for lunch on Saturday after having dinner there on Friday. Highly recommended.

Looking forward to the 1/2 Shammy and spending more time with my Peeps!