Billy and I ran the first in a series of races leading up to the Marathon. I ran it last year. You can read about that here. If you don't feel like it, I'm going to go ahead and summarize the results, so don't worry. Most importantly (and I'm not just saying this because I ran 4 minutes slower than last year) is that this race was frickin' FUN. Like, "Ooooohhhhhh, so THAT'S why I woke up at 4 a.m. on a Sunday" fun.
It was fantastic to have a race buddy too. Billy and I ran together for the whole time, except for the last 50 yards or so when his long legs bettered my chubby gams. No matter, though. For 15 glorious kilometers (9.32 miles) there we were side by side, occasionally making fun of people (need to work on the snark factor)offering encouragement, checking up on each other now and again - in lovey marital running bliss. Sigh. Swoon! Vomit ;)
I knew going into it that I wouldn't be as fast as I was last year at this time. Last year around now my training was on a whole different level. Our goal was to just run 9 minute miles or faster - and we definitely did that. Setting realistic goals is important, and we were both very pleased with the way the race went. Also, because it went so well, it was not only a HUGE motivator to kick up our training, but also gave us a nice snapshot of where we are at. The outlook is sunny!
Just for fun, here's my stats from last year compared to this year:
Last Year
Time: 1:17:38
Finished: 203 out of 784 overall
Age Group: 11 out of 63
This Year
Time: 1:21:55
Finished: 267 out of 789 overall
Age Group: I was 6th in my age group, but I don't know how many of us "25-29F"s there were.
Av. mile split: 8:47
Billy
(It should be noted that this is the longest Billy has ever run in his life. He figures this means that everything is a PR)
Time: 1:21: 47
Finished: 262/789 (do you REALIZE the EPICNESS of this?! His first race in the Marathon Readiness series and he finished 262?! A marathon is 26.2 miles! HELLO!)
Age Group: 23
Av. Mile Split: 8:47
The More Things Change
So maybe last year at this time I was running faster than I am now. And last year I was on my own instead of with Billy. But, we all know that the more things change, the more they stay the same and alllll the lessons I learned last year about slathering feet with vaseline and wearing microfiber socks could not keep my battle wounds away:
Lovely blood blister, no? Didn't you all MISS the nasty pictures of my feet?!
Hope you enjoy ; )
xo
Hells yeah, go Haas family!! Billy is such a badass for diving into this marathon training so easily, and I am so happy that your strength, speed and stamina is still insanely good. I would be thrilled to run ONE 8:47 mile, and you guys ran over 9 of those suckers! GET IT, power couple!
ReplyDeleteYou Go Girl! Keep up the inspiration for me. I haven't been to the gym since my back went all wonky on me. Now I'm just waiting for Em to go back to the land of Griz and the boys to start school so I can get on a schedule again. Summer vacation is grand but school year is bliss. :o)
ReplyDelete