Half Marathon day!

Well, race day began a little colder than we would have wished. Here is the forecast for the day. The race started at 6:30am, and we were out the door by 5:45. It was so cold that I wore 3 layers on top, plus a plastic bag at the start line to keep my body heat in. We took off the bags right before the race started. I kept my hat and gloves on the entire time, except for when I took them off to snap these pictures.

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The best part about the Daytona Beach half is the course. You begin with a loop around the speedway (a little over 2 miles), then run to the beach and back. That does, by the way, include a bridge. A big bridge. Twice. This year they changed the course slightly, which allowed us to run on the beach for a block.

Even though we live there, we still took some time to snap a few pictures on the beach. Both Chris and I were thrilled to be able to run. He's been battling knee pain, and I've had a cold all week.

We were running well, despite the cold. We usually try for a "negative split" where we run the second half faster than the first, but that did not happen this time. I attribute it mainly to the wind - we ran INTO the wind the entire way back. At mile 12, Chris needed to slow down, but I plowed on. We both finished just a minute apart, and we both had a PR (Personal Record!) Mine was 2:14:47. The closest I've come to that lately was in the 2:20 area, so I was very excited.

Although Daytona does throw a nice after party, we didn't stick around. We wanted to make it to church (made it just in time), and we were abolutely freezing by that point. It was still in the low 40's, windy, and now we were soaked with sweat. I've never been so happy to be inside a hot car as I was this morning.

Instead of the post-race beer and pizza, we opted for the next best thing  - Krispy Kreme. Each runner receives a free dozen glazed donuts. Benjamin offered to drive me there (!!!) to pick them up. I'm sure the boys will help us eat them quickly.

This week's total: 17.1 miles (4 mile treadmill run on Thursday)

This year's total: 123.4 miles! I'm getting there!!!!

100!!!!

I've made it 10% of the way to my goal! This morning on my long run, I passed the 100 mile mark. Very exciting. Unfortunately, I was running alone, as Chris has an injured knee. He's not sure what exactly is wrong with it, but since we have a half marathon in a week, he's not taking any chances. We started off together, but before we hit one mile he had to turn around. I had brought my headphones just in case. It's much less fun to run long runs by yourself, but I took this opportunity to catch up on my favorite podcasts. I used Stitcher to listen to It's All Politics, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and Another Mother Runner. I actually had a good time - I averaged 10:15 miles, which is good for me on a long run. Perfect weather certainly helps, as does the motivation to get home in time to be ready for church.

I only missed two days of excerize this week - Tuesday, which is almost always a rest day, and Saturday, because we had an all day church retreat. That was fine, as I should be "tapering" anyway to prepare for next Sunday's race!  The paper said this week that we will be running "with" some of the NASCAR drivers. I put "with" in quotes because they will be way ahead of us. I wouldn't know them by sight anyway. Here are my current totals:

Week: 17.2 miles
Month: 38.3 miles
Year: 106.3 miles! Yes!

A run-derful weekend

Lots of running this weekend! Yesterday we ran the Lourdes Academy 5K. We run this every year and it's one of my favorites. It goes through Ormond Beach neighborhoods, and we are treated to pancakes at the finish. This year we all did well. Chris had a PR, and Alexander placed second in his age group!

This morning we did a 9 mile run, one of our last before the Daytona Beach Half marathon. I made up for it with yummy crepes for lunch (banana and strawberry).

I've spent the last 2 hours during the superbowl trying to upload pictures from my phone on to my computer, hoping to add some pics to the blog. Somehow I've lost a few of them.... hopefully they will be recovered soon, especially since the superbowl is halted right now due to a light malfuntion. Hahahahaha.

Weekly Total: 21.1