Finally, a PR!

Not a huge one, but one none the less!  :)

This Sunday was the inaugural Chicago Women's Half Marathon. As you may be aware, i have attempted to PR at the half marathon approximately 8,000 times already this year, and everytime, the race has been yellow flagged because of heat, and every time i have ended up struggling through it coming nowhere near a PR.  


Not that this was any different.  The race was yellow flagged with a 70+ degree start, and upped to red half way through (at the finish it was a sticky 81..) Although it didn't feel quite as hot as the 13.1 two weeks ago (but definitely more humid!)  Many moons back i had set this as my goal half to run a sub 2 either on, or by.  Obviously, it has not been a good year for me.  That or i suck - its still being widely debated.  I had the option to back off, run at a comfortable pace, and just give up until fall, or i could throw caution to the wind and still try to sub 2.  Even if it meant finishing with a 1:59:59. Or puking.


I decided to try my best, and not beat myself up if i didn't make it.  Luckily, two people that i run with through CARA had the same goal as i did, and Shawna, who is a pace leader, is able to comfortably run that time and "paced" us (allowed up to follow her like little puppies) up until the last few miles.

Carolyn, me, and Shawna - in the zone. 

Despite the fact that we are normally quite chatty, we were all pretty silent and trying to conserve our energy.  I felt hot and sweaty by mile two, which is never pretty.  I was able to keep up with Shawna until mile 8, and then i stopped at a water stop and walked through it to catch my breath and dump water on myself.  I was feeling pretty hot and gross, and knew i had to cut back my pace a little bit, which sucked.

The sun eventually hid for mile 10&11 which was wonderful, but i was already pretty fried, and unsuccessfully doing the math to see if i could still meet my goal.  I also saw Matt & Waffles with the greatest sign ever.

Since we are both obsessed with Game of Thrones, we decided to design our own house sigils mine is a ginger fox on a yellow flag (obviously) and my house words are "Martini's are coming"  We are giant nerds.  But at least i can spell - he wrote "Martin's are coming." <3


The last mile, i fell apart.  Like always.  I really need to work on this.  The sun came back, and i just started to feel really sick.  Then i started dry heaving.  Then i just lost it, and i think i took two walk breaks during this mile.  Finally there was a lady right before the 13 mile mark shouting (sub two, sub two!)  So i booked it with everything i had left, and cruised in with 21 seconds to spare.  1:59:39.


At the end they had cold towels, misters, and frozen yogurt.  I was so happy because i felt like my heart was going to explode from the heat.  All the ladies also got yoga mats! The only thing it was lacking was beer.  But thats just me.  After the race, i met up with my friends, who were both nice enough to help pace people (one officially, one unofficially)

me, Keren, Trisha

I'm glad was able to finally pull off this 3 minute PR, especially in unfavorable conditions.  I hope i could do even better on a cool shady day.  I am also now very aware that i consistently slow down in the last half of every race, and i really need to work on that.  I also need to stop flipping out at mile 12.  If anyone has advice on that one....

We had brunch plans with friends immediately after the race, and after that, we went home to deal with our bounty of vegetables for the week!

So much basil!  so much dill!

Seriously, like a pound of dill!  What does one do???

Homemade pickles!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend as well!