A Little Running Shenanigans…

So it’s almost half way through March, so I thought I would update how my return to running has been this year. After the plague, and my almost zero month of running in December, I took it easy and slowly worked my way back into a normal workout routine.

So far this year, my beloved Garmin has spend the entire time in the junk drawer in my kitchen. All of the 148 miles I have logged in 2015 have been done without concern for my pace, and it has been so nice! I used to think that every run needed to be logged in my Garmin, but now it has been very freeing.

I wanted to get back to running because it’s fun, and I think I am getting there.

I even ran my first race without my Garmin.

I can’t decide if I am delaying getting it out and dusting it off because I am afraid to or if I just don’t want it to feel like work again. For now, though, I think I will leave it where it is and stick to the running I’ve been doing.

Next up is the Go Girl Half Marathon. I can’t remember the last time I ran two half marathons in one month. I have been wanting to do an all girl race, and I have lots of friends running it, so it should be a really fun race.

Strides of March Half Marathon…

Last year we ran the Strides of March Half Marathon, it was inexpensive, local and had great volunteers. While I had been pondering the thought of running it again, it wasn’t until Saturday that we got signed up for it.

I have had very low expectations when it has come to my running this year. I have been running without my Garmin all year, and just trying to slowly get back into it. It’s amazing how freeing it has been. I haven’t seen double digits since we ran the Route 66 Half in November, before Thanksgiving so I knew that this half was going to be pretty tough.

I love that it only takes about 15 minutes to get to this race. Rochelle and I got there, found Kristy, Lauren and Carrie, got to hang out in our cars for a little bit and had time to hit up the port-o-potties and got to the starting line.

Carrie and I had been chatting about our race plan. Mine was mostly to not die, and hers was to take it easy. We decided to stick together and just see how it went. We did go out a little fast, but mostly because we were around other runners. We worked on holding back some, stopped at the water stops, and took a short walk break at about mile 4. Before we knew it we saw everyone else heading back and then we were at the half way point.

I convinced Carrie we needed a half way point selfie with the race volunteer.

We headed back and I was definitely feeling the miles, but we chatted away, listened to a little music, chatted with the volunteers and kept at it. The finish has a pretty good sized hill before the downhill to the finish. I made it up the hill and finished just behind Carrie in just over 2:05.

Not as fast as last year, but the fastest half since last year. I was very happy to be done.

Post race with Carrie, Rochelle, Kristy, Lauren and I. Notice the three in the middle with their age group trophies for top 3 finishes. I didn’t even check on my age group until after I got home. Turns out I should have had one of those trophies too! Second in my age group.

Sometimes it’s good to be 40.

Today I am incredibly sore. I feel like I have the body of an 80 year old. The memories are worth it though.

Next up, the Go Girl Half in two weeks. I can’t believe that I am doing two half this month. Here’s hoping I am getting back in shape and I will be less sore the next time.