My "unofficial" Fourth Half Marathon!

When Kirsten decided to sign up for her first half marathon I said I would train with her. The last few months have been the first time I haven't had any half marathon to train for in over 6 months. So despite not being able to actually go and race with her, I said I would somehow do 13.1 miles with her. I looked up virtual races all of yesterday, just as an incentive to really go through with it. However, there were none available.

Last night I thought about maybe only doing 10 miles instead, however this morning I woke up at 4:59am and knew today I would run 13.1 miles. However the whole situation was a set up for a disaster. I had only 4 hours of sleep, I am in the beginning stages of my annual "Summer cold" and I have had major GI issues the last couple of days, especially this morning. And I still wanted to go out and run a half marathon? Yup. Slow. That was the plan. And believe me the first couple of miles were SLOW! My lower legs were super tight, I felt super sick to my stomach and my cold was acting up. I doubted how this would all end up, but I kept with it. Then at mile 2-3 ish (can't remember exactly when) a miracle happened. I was running along the Charles and a woman in pink started her run. What was so special about this person? We were running at the same pace, and she was doing walk/run intervals like me. We frog hopped each other, I would pass her, then she would pass me, over and over again. She made me speed up! She stayed with me all the way until mile 8 and then I passed her and didn't see her again. If it hadn't been for her, I don't think I would have PRed like I did today. I was proud that miles 5 through 11, excluding 6 were sub 11 min/miles!

At around mile 10 I was feeling really crampy, from drinking too much water too fast. In addition to my stomach feeling yucky already, it wasn't too pleasant. It was then that I remembered Kirsten's 10th mile was dedicated to me. How could I let her down. So I kept going. I kept going. I was going to get sub 2:30 a goal of mine. And guess what I did!! This is my longest run that wasn't a race. Despite not feeling great at all I did it, and I got my best time ever. It only gives me hope that my next half marathon will be even faster :)

Splits:
Mile 1- 12:39.8
Mile 2- 12:38.6
Mile 3 - 12:20.8
Mile 4- 11:18.2
Mile 5- 10:38.3
Mile 6- 11:31.5
Mile 7- 10:54.9
Mile 8- 10:31.8
Mile 9- 10:45
Mile 10- 10:56
Mile 11- 10:59.2
Mile 12- 11:21.9
Mile 13- 10:51.8
Mile 14 (.1 mile)- :56 (average pace 9:43 min/mile)

13.1 miles- 2:28:25 average pace of 11:20min/mile

I'm also beyond happy to report that Kirsten rocked her first half marathon. I spoke with her last night and she has caught the runner bug and is thinking about the next half to sign up for.