Much thanks to my friend Wess for agreeing to do a 1/2 marathon with me only 2 days after Christmas!
A couple of weeks ago, I got the crazy idea to compete in a ½ marathon to end 2008 after only 3 weeks of training coming off a season-ending break. To my surprise, my coach ok’ed the idea to see where my fitness was at at this point and it was “game on” for the Florida Half Marathon in
I had no idea what to expect for the turnout with the race being only 2 days after Christmas and was pleasantly surprised that there were enough entrants that I was able to run with someone throughout the race. I’d planned on starting out conservatively at 6:30’s and building as the race went on, but was unable to stick to that plan because of the way the course was designed. The entire course was rolling hills (which Clermont has become famous for) and the majority of the downhill section came at the front end of the race. I hit halfway at a little over 40 minutes, but knew what I’d be up against coming back on the out and back course. I hit the 10 mile mark at 1:05:20 and then started the major uphill section of the course. Needless to say, it took me almost 23 minutes to run/jog/power walk the last 5k of the race and I finished in 1:28:10. I finished as the first overall female and it was about a 15 minute drop from the last time I ran a ½ my senior year of high school!
Although this was a tough course, I enjoyed every minute of it. The only running I’d done outside the past couple of weeks had been the sprinting from my car to the inside of the gym or wherever else I was going in Michigan/Illinois while I was up north visiting family for the holidays… I will take 80 degrees and humidity over -9 + wind any day!!! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!
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