OperationJack Half Marathon Recap

The plan was to run my half on the 26th, like everyone else, but family was in from Baltimore, and I wanted to spend some time with them….so I postponed my run until the 27th.

Then my MIL called and invited us over for dinner, to arrive at 6. That meant that I had to squeeze my half in less than 2 hours. I’ve done it before, but not for a while, and only after much more training.

I left work a bit early (shhhh) so that I could be ready to run at 4. MY parents called to say that they were going to be stopping by around 4, which was good, as they’d left some things at our house after Christmas. I got home, got changed, got all my stuff ready (Tracey had already filled my water botlles-THANKS!), and waited for my folks. They came not long after 4, and sadly I was only able to see them for about 4 minutes before they headed south again. Bad weather was predicted, and ice was already falling.

I hopped on the treadmill (I need to name that thing) around 4:20, and began to pound out the miles. I was watching Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Rings), but I really couldn’t hear it over the thump thump thump of my heart pounding its way out of my chest….with weather getting worse, and the time needed to travel over the river and through the woods, I stopped after 8 miles. My first 5k fell in 30:26, but I hit 10k at 64 minutes. ouch. it is very hot running on the treadmill, and I was tired, malnourished, poorly rested, etc.

I went to dinner, but not until after scarfing down a clif builder bar.  gotta love that quick 20g of protein, especially knowing that dinner was spaghetti…Zach snapped this picture of me, a pre-emptive one, but I wasn’t sure if I’d have the chance to take one tonight. If you look closely, you can see the mon-chi-chi tucked under my right arm. Woah. I need a stylist!

My plan for today was to run my remaining 5.1 miles after I got home, so I tried to plan my eating and drinking accordingly while I was at work. This can be tricky, especially since I get really hungry around 3. I made it through, though, and got ready to run soon after I got home.

Today’s first 5k fell in 28:58, nearly half a minute faster than yesterday. Of course today I knew that I wasn’t gunning for 13.1 miles…..I started to tire a bit after that, and did fartleks to keep my mind occupied. With a big push in the last half mile, I crossed today’s line in 48:41. So? well….earlier today @iRunNewEngland tweeted that he did a 5.19 mile run in 48:47, and I wanted to beat it. I thought I had, until I just realized that his run was .09 miles FURTHER than mine. DAG-NABBIT!!!!!!

My total time for the half was 2:08. My goal for my “A” half is 1:40. Looks like I have some work to do in the next 6 months.

Bring it.