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Sunday, March 30, 2008

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 :)

13 comments:

Pedergraham said...

Hurrah!!! I looked up your time and then realized that I didn't know what your goals were. And then I saw the temps--cold for Atlanta! BUT you did GREAT. You deserve lots of Zingo, hot tubs, etc. after your full weekend following a full week.
Way to go!

Wes said...

I went out for my run in tights, a long sleeve ING shirt, and a long sleeve Mizuno shell, hat and gloves. Lost the gloves at mile 1. Lost the shell at mile 2 :-) This is the second time I've done that!!! I think I need to recalibrate my clothing options!!

I checked your time (Dee Dee was bugging me until I did, OK, not too hard :-) and said, "Yup! She's a speedy peep!!"

Congrats on a great race!!

On to our first tri of the season!!
(Langley Pond for me)

kerrie said...

great job! an improvement is always an improvement and you should be very proud! i think it is awesome you were able to keep up your 10k pace in sub par conditions....however, i am still hoping for a "puker" for you;)

Anonymous said...

GREAT JOB KELLYE!! It sounds like you had a great race in less then perfect conditions. Now, just imagine what you could do on a mild weather, flat course, wind at your back kinda race?!?!

Nice going!

Beth said...

YEAH (again!) Kellye!! Awesome job with a BIG improvement over last year and a lot of other positives to boot. I think it's great that you had 3 goals and honestly if you would have met your TOP A goal it probably wasn't hard enough!! Now you are hungry to get that next time and I know you can and will! Watch out St. Anthonys AND watch out HAWAII!!! Happy recovery! :)

Mel said...

AWESOME...Passed your TEST and did great at your 1/2 Marathon race...REALLY a GOOD weekend for you :)

Anonymous said...

WOO HOO, but I already screamed that at you today on the phone! SUPER job at your race AND passing your test. What a great weekend all around!!! :) Congrats, Kellye! You deserve it all. Jen H.

Marit C-L said...

Hooray! Way to go Kellye. The bathroom, the exam, the pacing, the lack-of-tights, your super fast speed - it all WORKED! Great job on a fantastic race.

Gotta say - I'm a big fan of the Zingo. Hope that Nate and Caroline got a chance to play. Can't be beat :) And I'm sure that Gracie and Cooper had a fun time and WON them all! What great players they are ;). Really - I had a blast and would gladly do it again.

Congrats on a successful weekend all around. Now uncork the bubbly and CELEBRATE!

Danielle said...

Great job out there! The conditions weren't the best and I thought I was going to freeze to death at some points, but felt pretty good for my second half-marathon. Sorry I missed ya!

Jennifer Cunnane said...

UBER RUNNER:

Great job on the race! I am right there with you. I am trying to learn how to get into that hurt box and stay trapped in there but it seems to be a learning process.

What a great improvement. HOpefully you celebrated with a post recovery beer (carbo drink, oops) i mean in the hot tub.

Ashley said...

Hey - GREAT job! The weather was Yuck this weekend, way to tough it out. I just keep telling myself, at least we're not getting snow ;). BTW, I've never commented - I'm Ashley, nice to meet you. If you hang with JH, then I suppose you're "good people" (or maybe just crazy)

Mira (Ivanovich) Lelovic said...

Congratulations Kellye! Sounds like you had a great race, and I have heard that course is a toughy!

Steve Stenzel said...

NICE JOB!!! And way to use the "Steve method" of 3 goals!! CONGRATS on a speedy run!!