The winner of the 2014 Med City Half Marathon was Mark Bolster, coming in at a speedy 1:15:51. His speed doesn’t concern me. The fact that I will never be that fast does not bother me at all. In fact, I am pretty proud to have completed in less than double his time.
Less than double was my goal entering this half marathon.
2:27:40 was my final time. That’s two minutes and twenty seconds faster than my goal of two and a half hours.
It was a tough run, but I started out strong completing the first six miles in less than an hour. After that I gradually slowed, not from tired legs but from an overall whole-body exhaustion. Also, heat. Around miles nine and eleven I walked for a minute just to bring the heart rate down.
I find that I’m actually excited to get out running again. I’m giving my poor body a little bit of a break this week, but next week I’ll be out there running around like a crazy person again. I won’t train as many days as I did for this race, but I think I should at least be able to maintain my level of fitness through the summer.