Half Marathon Success!

Well, the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon was a success! Despite the fact that my husband and I did an abysmal amount of training for this one (read: none whatsoever) and spent the week leading up to the run having our asses kicked at Kosama, we managed to finish the run slightly faster than last year. Kind of makes ya wonder how we would have done if we had actually trained, but I guess we’ll never know since we’ve decided that this will be the last half marathon we run unless we can do one of the cool destination runs (like the Edinburgh Half Marathon).

Running a half marathon, at least for us, is not exactly a walk in the park. With Z’s shortened Achilles tendon in his right leg he gets a significant amount of calf pain on long runs (not to mention scar irritation), and I have some iliotibial problems with my right knee that can cause quite a bit of pain as well. I rolled out of the foam roller in the morning before the run and it was enough to get me through the first six or so miles before my knee started acting up. After that, I started getting some twinges of pain, so we took longer rest breaks about every other break.

We used the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method to pace ourselves. Last year, we did an unofficial run-walk-run that was 4-minutes on and 4-minutes off, and by mile four my knee was DONE and we struggled through the rest. It felt like a really long run. This year, we targeted a finish time of three hours (about 9-10 minutes less than last year) and the method recommends 2-minutes on (running) and 1-minute off (walking) for a 13-minute mile. That may not sound like much considering some people are capable of 6-minute miles, but it’s actually a time improvement for us. We are not built for running and it doesn’t come naturally, so I am pleased just to be able to finish!

We kept a really good pace until about mile 9, averaging 13:00 to 13:50 per mile. I felt much better than last year and had a lot of energy – the run actually seemed to go by quickly, but perhaps knowing the route this time contributed to that. The music along the run wasn’t that great considering the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathons are known for having music along the race route, but one music “stop” did have a huge karaoke screen and was playing “Friends in Low Places” when we came through, and that was fun. I run with headphones though, so I got to hear good music PLUS cheers from everyone who commented or liked on my Nike+ post on Facebook. Super motivating! So the results?

That’s a faster 5k than I’ve been running, and a few minutes faster overall than last year. There is certainly room for improvement, but for now I’m going to focus on getting healthy at Kosama so I can hopefully improve my mile pace and continue to improve my 5k. If one week at Kosama can do this, imagine what eight weeks can do!

The aftermath of these runs though, is why I probably won’t be doing them anymore. Even with prepping with anti-chafe powder gel, I chafed pretty horribly on this run (sorry if TMI) and though I sprayed down with sunscreen, I still managed to burn in a few places. The result was barely being able to walk yesterday when compounded with the extreme knee and leg pain that set in a few hours after the run. I opted to work from home today in an effort to recuperate. I am walking a bit better with the help of ibuprofen, Aquaphor and gauze, but I still feel pretty wiped out. Even though I am extremely proud of my accomplishments, I hate feeling so cruddy afterward.

Don’t worry though, I won’t stop running all together! Today I take a break from working out (it’s plyometric day anyway and my shins are still on fire) but we’ll be back at it tomorrow (I actually feel guilty about missing it!) and we’ll be getting ready to do the Petco 5k next month with the pups. I don’t worry about time on that run, since corgis have such short legs and need more walking breaks.