Weekly Chase: I’m a Half Marathoner!!!

Good morning guys!!! I had planned on writing up this post yesterday after the race, but I’ll be honest with you:

I ran. I showered. I slept. I ate. I slept some more. Haha. Oh, and there was some icing in there as well. I’m feeling pretty good today, despite the IT issue I had yesterday. I’m sore, but I’m not feeling like it was anything serious. We’ll see!

As a quick recap (I’ll get into it in more detail later),  but…

I am officially a half marathoner!!!

I’m still basking in the glory of what I just did, and I have so much to share with you about how I feel, the best and worst part of the race, and all the great details. The one thing most of you already know is that I ended up slightly injuring myself between mile 10 and 11. I stopped to get a refill on the water, because we’d hit the hottest leg of the race – along 31st Street and Lake Shore Drive – and I felt my IT band suddenly scream at me the moment I started running again.

Of course, I tried running a few times – at different speeds, on different levels of ground, etc. Nothing seemed to help except running on the right side of the road, but only for a few seconds and it’d go nuts again. So, unfortunately, finishing in under 3 hours didn’t happen at a slow 16-minute pace (anything faster killed me). It sucked. I was pissed. I wanted to hit someone. I hated every second of those last 2.5 miles. The moment I saw the finish line, though, I started running. It somehow didn’t kill me…it hurt a little, and I had to stop once to walk, but for the last tenth of a mile, I sprinted…and cried the whole way. Hehe. I am not thrilled with my time, I’ll be honest, because I had 2:45 in my head. Instead, I had to settle for 3:02:51. Like I said, I’m not thrilled, but I finished with my heart. I harnessed the anger of getting slowed down and finished sprinting. I’m damn proud…and the bright side?

Oh that PR will be glorious in November. (I’m thinking of it as this: took me longer this time, which means with some good training, I could really knock this out of the park.) Yes, that means I’ve registered for my second half! November 17th!

Goal #2: Get my rest. Aside from the hilarious day we drove up here, I actually did get 8 hours of sleep every night before the race. Pretty stoked about that one, because I was worried I wouldn’t be rested up for it.

Goal #3: Race with heart. Oh man did I ever!!!! I’ve caught the bug.

This week’s goals are going to be really simple, because I still have three days here in Chicago and then a long drive home. However, Starting Monday next week, it’s officially 30 days until I turn 30!!!! Which means that I have some major goals and some giveaways, especially for those of you that are involved in the Weekly Chase. So stay tuned for that!

Goal #1: Stretching. This goal is totally obvious, really. The one thing I’ve learned most from this race is the importance of stretching, so I’m on it now. I plan to stretch and/or do yoga at least 5 times this week.

Goal #2: Plan my mileage and cross training. My big plan for this next month is to strength train with some shorter runs that will occur more often during the week. I’m not thrilled with how I’ve felt after ditching consistent strength training sessions. I miss how strong I felt with Body for Life, and m upper body is in desperate need of some TLC. I do not want to hit the double digits runs until later, despite the fact that I’ve already run them. I’m pissed about my time, yes, but I will not be fueled by the need to prove something and over train.

Goal #3: Plan meals. I’m inspired by the Survive on $35 crew, and since I’m still not working, I would really like to start planning some healthy, cheap meals to save some money. There’s a possible third half marathon in sight right now, and it’ll be terribly expensive and involves some princesses…and a 5-year-old that wants to run the kiddos 1-miler. Also, because we’re out in the country soon, drives to the grocery store will be more expensive and will occur less often.

Alright. There ya have it. Sorry the post was late, but I was recouping. Thank you SO much for all the support…I can’t thank you enough. Every time I went to take pictures (that contributed to my time, I’m sure haha), my phone was filled with support…from FB, Twitter, and from texts. I read every single one of them. You’re all so amazing, and I have much love for every one of you.

  Don’t forget to share the love!!!