On Saturday I ran my seventh (?) half marathon. I ran the Rock and Roll USA half here in DC. It was hilly. I wasn’t feeling like it was my day, so I ended up just taking it easy and enjoying the race and finishing in 1:53:36.
It wasn’t my best time, it wasn’t my second best finish. But I finished and I didn’t feel burned out or frustrated. One of the things I have learned about running is that some day your day doesn’t fall on race day. But it’s always how you handle yourself once you’ve crossed the finish line that determines how you being preparing for your next race.
And speaking of my next (big) race … I got some awesome news this morning!
So I will run my 3rd marathon this fall! I am a mix of excited and nervous! I’m excited because running a marathon is a big deal! I am also hoping to improve on my 4:12 PR I set back in 2012 at the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, PA. I’m nervous because 26.2 miles is a lot of running! It’s also a lot of training! And there’s a good chance that I will be doing some of that running and training at odd hours. I’m changing jobs soon – moving from an 8am-5pm schedule to a variable schedule that will change every few months and include some overnight work. Oh journalism!
I am going to try my best to document my training and all that entails here. I’ll try to share some of the gear I love, some of my workouts, and probably what I’m eating and cooking (although not tonight, I ate chicken tenders and smile fries because I am 32).
In the meantime I’m looking forward to a couple of other races. In April the cherry blossoms will be in bloom and I’m hoping to kick some butt at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler. I’m hoping to PR in that race. Then in May I’ll run the Capitol Hill Classic 10K. J got me hooked on this race. It’s got an awesome neighborhood feel to it, and I’m going to try to take April to real focus on training for a 10K. My goal in that race is to get under 50 minutes!
For now, I’m going to relax! I did some 800s tonight and they kind of kicked my butt. Tomorrow I’m planning on just a nice and easy 5-6 mile run. My weather app tells me that it should be perfect for a run outside … on the first day of SPRING!
Fit For The Finish Line 
Super-excited to follow your marathon shenanigans. Congrats on finishing your seventh half, too! Your “taking it easy” time kind of blows me away, honestly (if I were to run sub-2:00 it would not be because I was taking it easy!!).
If I heard current me tell 2011 me that I was taking it easy at that pace I would have thought I was crazy! I don’t know exactly what has changed, but I’ve got some mileage under my belt and that helps!