Picking up from yesterday –
So, off cranky topics and back to basically chronological storytelling –
At the Mile 7 marker, I realized I would probably hit my precious 3 hours. Though, I started running out of steam right after hitting 7. (I know I said we were away from cranky topics, but that’s about when I was really starting to want some Gatorade.)
Mile 8 felt slow. It was filled with Shot Blok eating, tons of water drinking, and feeling generally slushy and hot.
But, once I hit mile marker 8, it was back to the races.
Jump forward to mile marker 13 in my sights. I still had something like 20 minutes when I could see it far in the distance, but just being able to see it made me confident I’d hit it in the time I’d allotted myself.
Sure enough, I crossed mile 13 at 2:53! I felt incredible. It was practically impossible that I wouldn’t hit that .1 in the next 7 minutes.
My fastest unofficial half ever was just a training run before my first half in 2009. I did it in 2:58. So, I figured I’d even beat that!
I started jogging, looking for that last point 1. I even passed up the water station without stopping. I thought there was a halfway timing mat (though I was incorrect). Once I didn’t see it, as minutes of jogging went by, I started practically sprinting.
Once I was around 2:59, somehow sense was knocked into me, and I realized there was no way I hadn’t made it to 13.1. I turned around and mile marker 13 was nowhere to be seen. Being that it was out of eyesight, I was definitely more than .1 miles away.
So, since there was no official 13.1 on the course, I can’t say my exact time, but based on smart guessing, I’m pretty sure I was under 2:55 (especially because after the New Year’s Race debacle, I made absolutely sure to start my timing app before I crossed the start line.
So, successful 1st half. Yay!
And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.