I ran my first half! For one of our training runs, we were asked to sign up for the Old Agoura Half Marathon on the 31st. Bree couldn't make it so I ran it by myself. I had so much fun! My sister offered to have my son over for a slumber party with her son which trigger my husband to want to come - and boy am I glad he did! I was not looking forward to getting up before the crack of dawn and driving an hour away, by myself, only to have to trudge around agoura in shorts and a tank top until the race finally started.
The race was great, it had this really steep downhill start so I got a good start on my pace, then it evened out and by mile 3 we were running on a dirt fire road. I'm still a pretty slow runner so there were some run/walkers around me, but I ran an honorable chunk of the race. Around mile 6 I encountered a women I affectionately called "Elbows" because she was a super-speed walker and her elbows seriously came out 2 feet from the side of her body every time she thrust them out. I had made the mistake of stopping for a second at one of the trail water stops because they had scared me so badly about not leaving trash on the trail. She passed me and then I got stuck behind her on a really narrow section of the trail. Mind you, I would have been able to pass her had her elbows not been thrust out so far. I was afraid to pass her and get knocked down by Elbow woman.
Then I had myself all psyched to climb til mile 8 and then it was downhill from there. Sure enough, at mile 8 we began to decend as we turned around a hill. As we began the turn downwards, I looked up and noticed the steepest hill ever. The decent was not over, I saw a little ant line of people struggling to walk up this hill.
Phew! After I made it up that last unexpected hill, it really was all downhill from there. I made up some time as I forged downhill at top speed, passing a number of people. Then I evened out my pace when we hit the flatter pavement and finished in 2:40 and some change with a 12:04 pace. (Yes, I am a very slow runner!)
I saw my husband as I turned the corner to run the last 100 yards or so to the finish line and that gave me all the motivation I needed to sprint my way to the finish.
2 comments:
Way to go on the Half! Perhaps an air horn would come in handy in case you run into Elbows at the marathon. If you don't feel like carrying an air horn, a politely yelled, "Passing on your left!" usually works like a charm.
Keep those updates coming! :)
Seriously, the trail was REALLY narrow at that point. Thankfully it opened up soon enough.
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