I can't be more glad that I threw myself together the Sunday before this race for a 6 mile trial and that it went so well. Had that gone poorly, I'm not sure I even would've made it to the starting line. I also almost run better when I'm helping someone else achieve their goals, so the fact that my friend was running her first half marathon (she had trained previously for one before Covid hit and did a self-timed 13.1 road run, but this was her first actual half marathon race) helped I think. I can also be thankful that she was on board with my 1/4 run, 20 second walk ratio. Crazy part is that even at my current, pathetic fitness level, I chose to slow down for her, she didn't need to slow down to stay with me. We chatted the whole time so it was almost comical from a sing/talk/gasp test perspective. Well, if you've EVER ran with me you know that the truth is more that I talked the whole time and she shared some and commented. I'm not sure how entertaining I actually was as a lot of the chat involved regaling her with race stories (being dead-last finisher a couple times to the once-in-a-lifetime race where I placed 3rd overall and won prize money) although there was a bit of "shop talk" thrown in too. The 1/4 run, 20 second walk interval is bit shorter than I've ever raced, but I just was not at the fitness to run longer. Although the 20 seconds went fast, it got the job done without wasting extra time. I was basically in awe the entire time that the miles just ticked effortlessly by. I had sports beans about every 3 miles, drank water and did rather randomly take 2 salt stick capsules that happened to be in by handheld, but my stomach felt great the entire time which was good considering that running beyond my fitness level is what generally causes issues and there's no way this wasn't so much beyond. I was just so happy to be outside, running in the overcast sunshine. The finishers area was really nice and this is among my top favorite race shirts.

This race is exactly what my SOUL needed. I feel in some ways that I've been in a dark tunnel the last couple years and maybe now have finally made it back into the light.

It probably sounds like my ego talking to say that I felt like I could've ran another 13.1 after finishing, but that is so much how I felt. I had a 1.7 mile walk back to the car which felt kind of long, but I think may have contributed to the fact that I WASN'T EVEN SORE after this race aside from tight shins for a couple days. Considering I was crazy sore for days after the 6 miler the week before I was shocked by that.


Ummm, training or just running period might help a tad?


Nicely ran race.