red's race review

Who says you can't PR in a half marathon two days after completing a 19-miler!? Haha! Okay, it wasn't the best plan in the world, but it worked.

The Martian Marathon was this morning. I competed in the half as a warmup to the Bayshore Marathon in May. I finished in 1:34:45 -- beating my old PR from last fall by over 7 minutes, taking 5th in my age group and 15th woman overall. What a thrill!!!

I felt wonderful the entire race. I started tiring just a bit at around mile 11, but my pace hardly suffered. It was a good effort - I gave it my all. I did a good job picking my pace wisely right from the start. There were no aches and pains and the new shoes were wonderful! Came in just a minute behind my hubby. hehe! Love ya, Bear and Happy Birthday! Hope you like the new watch!

I ended up running with a nice guy named Rick from Erie, PA for 5-6 miles. He was 54 and did a great job managing my pace for that long! It was kind of fun having someone to chat with during the race. I'd never done that before.

The weather was perfect for running, though not great for standing around afterward. I quickly became uncomfortable after stopping - it was close to 40 degrees. I feel kind of bad missing the award ceremony as now I know I won an age group award. I hope I can stop by the store and pick it up next week. Matt had to work so we couldn't have stuck around had the temps been nicer anyway.