2008 Atlanta ING!

Well.... The race is over and I think it was a success!!

All of you wonderful people out there were sending me good vibes, and I could seriously feel it, so thank you so much!

So this was my fourth Half-Marathon... (outside of a triathlon!)

*My first was Silver Comet October 2006. More of a relative flat course: 1:43 time

*Thanksgiving Half-Marathon November 2006, 1:55 or something like that. Ran with a friend strictly for fun!

*Atlanta ING March 2007, 1:49:40

So as Steve says, there has to be 3 goals!

The Oh, this would be the ultimate goal! For me today, it would have been sub 1:40

The more realistic goal: Sub 1:45

The ok I can live with this goal: sub 1:49:40 to beat last years time! :)

Thankfully, the weather cleared out just in time! Sprinkled a little bit on me on the drive into Downtown, so I decided a hat would be a MUST to help keep the rain out of my eyes if it did rain. But it was completely overcast, so no sunglasses were needed.

Thanks to Coach Jen Harrison... I've HTFU when it comes to my clothing selection! It was chilly this morning. Pretty brutal winds and definitely NOT the nice Spring weather we've been having lately! I probably would have worn my tights to race in today... BUT I've come to realize that once you get moving... HEAT production is definitely NOT a problem for me! So I toughed out the cold winds in the line up before the start so my legs could move more freely during the race! Did wear a long sleeve shirt, but it was my skin tight, SUPER light-weight Zoot shirt which ended up being PERFECT!

Ok... so I call this race a success because there were MANY successful factors! Some people will look just at that finishing clock number, but there are a lot of other factors that people can work on when using these types of races for training races basically, and I was able to pull off a few!

Number 1: NO bathroom pit stops!! I've had to pull over at the Silver Comet and ING last year. So the fact that I just kept-on-moving-on and didn't need to stop was VERY good for me and good news for my nutrition!

Number 2: I have a tendency to die out towards the end. My pace did slow down, but not for lack of trying! I KEPT pushing it up the hills regardless of how dead my legs felt, and the last bit of this race is mostly uphill, so by then they did NOT want to keep moving. But I kept pushing through it, so that was good!

Number 3: I KNOW I could have pushed out another minute or two if I would have pushed it to that puke zone towards the end, which I honestly did not. I definitely WAS in my Hurt Box, but I can say I had a little more in me, and I think it's good knowing that walking away because though I could have decided to go there today... I know it's there and I WILL go there for Hawaii, so I am starting to learn those zones for my body and that's a GOOD thing!!

Number 4: I learned that I'm getting there! In all of my glorious studies... :) I've learned that speed is a result of 2 things: Pushing yourself beyond your limits to ultimately "reset" those limits, and neuromuscular memory. As I like to tell Adam, "You are good at what you do!" The more you do something, the better your body will function at that level. So speed isn't going to happen just because you push as hard as you can. It's a by-product that will develop overtime, and I've DEFINITELY picked some up!

I finished the race in 1:44:11!!

Not quite my Uber- goal, but definitely met my Realistic goal! (And... My Garmin clocked the race at 13.25.... So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

Gained more than 5 min's on my finish time from last year.... Learned about pacing some... AND managed to hold the same pace for this Half-Marathon that I did for that 10k just one month ago. I think that says a lot!

It was hilly... It was windy... It was TOUGH... and It was FUN!!

Isn't it funny when you're at that 9-10mile mark looking at all the people having fun watching and thinking to yourself, "Why do I do this to myself? Why again do I find it fun to put myself through a ton of pain... not just now, but for the next several days as my battered legs heal?"

But I pushed on literally thinking of all you guys out there that are now my friends because we share this common interest. About how good it feels to finish and have that accomplishment to hold forever, and about if I kept pushing beyond that point... it'd make me that much stronger for Hawaii in a couple of months!!

AND... I stole one of Marit's ideas and wrote inspirational things on the back of my race number to run with! I loved it! Great Idea! And it seriously did help! And all of you guys were there with me.... So thank you!

By the time I finished... I was wet and COLD... so I didn't hang out very long before heading to the hot tub! :)

I'm about to spin my legs out and have been relaxing all afternoon, playing ZINGO about a gazillion times! :) If you're unfamiliar... It's Bingo with a ZING!! Ask Marit, she had the privilege of playing with all of us :)

So that's it! Now... a little rest and then a build to St. Anthony's!

And for those of you who may not have already looked it up yet...

Eileen had a GREAT race at California yesterday!! GO E!!

And Bree did GREAT at the Wooloolaba today too!

Oh... and let's not forget Beth's sub 19min 5k! If you're racing her this year... BEWARE!!

Great job everybody and thanks again for all of your support!!

K :)