The Colony Half Marathon

This year my goal was to get up to running 6 miles.  Once I reached that goal I figured a half marathon wasn't far off.  I've wanted to run one again for years, but it just never made sense.  Time and activities and just life made other things a priority and that was totally fine.  Now that Riley's at White Rock Lake for rowing all the time it means that there's quite a bit of time where I can run the lake while I wait for her and that has provided time to run longer distances.

The timing of the The Colony Half Marathon was perfectly timed with where I was at in my training.  I used the Peloton app and followed the training program for a full marathon since they didn't have a half marathon option.  I followed it exactly without substituting workouts or skipping any days.  It definitely paid off.

When I ran half marathons prior to having Riley, I was pretty useless for the remainder of the day.  Stomach was upset, super sore, had IT band issues on my left leg, and ended each one saying that I'd never do it again.  A lot of my issues were that I was young and naive and figured that I'd do just fine without really following a program or doing all the long distance runs.  Longest I ran prior to the race days was 8 miles.  I mean - what's another 5 miles added on once you've gone 8 miles?  (being completely sarcastic here)

The other change I made was in how I fueled before and during the race.  In prior races I just used whatever they gave me and tried it.  I learned that Gu was not my thing.  But that was because I didn't really know how I needed to use it.  I researched different brands of Gu and found Sis, which I really like-ish.  Tried eating the whole 2oz at a time, but found that my body didn't like that.  Learned that if I took smaller doses at a time about every 30 minutes that I had more energy and less stomach issues.

This morning I was really nervous about the run.  I wanted to finish under 3 hours.  My ideal goal was between 2:30-2:40.  I finished at 2:45:45.  Completely happy with that!  And best of all I finished without any of my previous issues that I dealt with after long runs.  That's a complete win!

The course was half subdivision through Stewart Peninsula (my old stomping grounds!) and half gravel trail along Lake Lewisville.  I found the gravel to be easier on the legs, but harder to run on.  And I felt slower running on it.  I hit a wall around mile 10 where I just asked myself why I was doing this and what the point was.  I was tired.  But then I remembered that it's as much a mental game as it is a physical one.  I used some of the things shared in the training runs (check your form... keep your chin level and don't look down - look out).  I also gave myself a goal in the last two miles: try to pass five people in front of me.  This helped me think short term.  There were lots of other tired runners and most of us were doing walk-run intervals at this point.  I determined to focus on the first person ahead of me and try to get past them.  Then walked.  Then focused on the next person and then walked.  Did this several times, which helped me focus on shorter intervals of running and gave me a goal that could be achieved in small parts.  Ended up passing 7 people, but I'm pretty sure at least two of them passed me again at some point.

Along the way I passed a former student (Chyler) who was helping out at a water station and another former student (Nicole) who works at Scheels, which sponsored the event.  Loved seeing them so much!

I had planned to continue to train for the Dallas BMW Full Marathon that happens on December 12, but I'm thinking I'll just do another half marathon.  It was fun, tiring, and enjoyable without amping up the training in a crazy way during the holiday season.  I've always wanted to do one, but not sure I ever will.  Bravo to those who have!!  Here's to seeing where my running shoes take me next.