Half Marathon - Check

Today I went over to Salida and ran the Run Through Time Half Marathon. At the starting area I was upset because my Ipod was not working. I am thinking someone (Mikayla) hit too many buttons on the computer last night and deleted the songs of it.

I started the race with a friend of mine. She was just going to do the 2 mile fun run, but it was nice to have her the first first mile. Then the real work began. The entire 6.5 miles were uphill. We climb about 2000 feet in elevation. This was no easy run and many of us were walking it. I thought to myself quite a few times, this is suppose to be a running race not a walking race. Around mile 4 I found a new wind and the hills were not as big and I was able to run quite a bit more. My average pace to the turnaround was a whopping 13 minutes per mile!

Once I hit the turnaround the fun started because it was all downhill. What I tell myself many times is that what goes up, must come down. For the first 3 or 4 miles I was averaging 9 to 9:30 minutes per mile. Around mile 10 I was starting to feel the miles and the pounding. My legs were hurting, I was feeling some blisters (I am still breaking in my new shoes) and at this point I really wanted my Ipod. I needed some good heart pounding songs to get me through the pain. But instead I had the beautiful scenery to look at. I was in pine trees, looking over Salida and these huge 14ers' were towering above them with snow on top. (Sorry no picture since everyone forgot the camera).

I finished in 2 hours and 34 minutes. My average pace on the uphill was 13 minutes per mile and on the downhill was 10:30 minutes per mile. Overall was 11:38 pace. I am hoping for my next half marathon in Olathe, KS to have a pace of 11 minutes per mile or faster. It is in Kansas so no hills or very minor hills for this one.