13.1

Toward the end of the mini-marathon last year, I was complaining to Jenn that she BETTER not EVER let me do another one of these things EVER again no matter HOW much I say I want to. Of course, when work offered to sponsor employees to run it again, I signed up again. So Jenn agreed to sign up again too. "This year I'll actually train really hard for it," I thought.

Well, of course, I'm still in school, and life is actually busier with the additional responsibilities I've taken on leading Bible Bowl with Ben. I still didn't train well enough to be prepared to run the whole thing without walking, but maybe next year. Last year I hardly ran during the week but would try to get in a long run on the weekends. This year I did more short runs and was a little more consistent with frequency throughout the week, but never did more than 7 miles in a long run training. Not quite enough!! Oh well.

My time last year was about 2:59. My goal this year was 2:45, which I thought was pretty realistic. The whole week leading up to the mini had been rainy and terrible, but the day of was beautiful and sunny, but not hot- absolutely perfect weather! I felt pretty good, too. Had some scrambled eggs with toast and jelly for breakfast and was feeling energized.

Jenn and I ran the first 7 miles straight through. I finally had to stop for a walk, so Jenn decided she would run on ahead since she was still feeling good. I was pretty happy with our time through 7 miles though. From there on a ran and walked, back and forth. As I neared the ending, I pulled out my phone to see how much time was left...less than a minute until 2:45! I had to sprint once I could see the finish line to make it across under 2:45, but I managed- 2:44:55!

Jenn met me at the finish- she had already been there 20 minutes! Ben met me there as well- he fought the crowds to come watch. This was before we had met up on the other side of the fence :)

I ate half a blueberry bagel afterward, and kept saying it tasted funny...only for Ben to point out that it was moldy, so needless to say I didn't eat the other half! Gross. We got a to-go order from Waffle House on the way home, like we did last year, so that made up for it :)

I felt much better this year than I did at the end of last year, so I guess that's a good sign that I was somewhat better prepared. I did have some chafing between my legs...should have used vaseline but forgot!

According to my runkeeper app, here were my times for each mile (funny how they keep getting slower and slower!!!!). Not great at the end, but I was still proud of the outcome.

1) 10:00

2) 10:40

3) 10:52

4) 11:02

5) 11:17

6) 12:18

7) 12:19

8) 13:42

9) 14:08

10) 13:53

11) 13:42

12) 14:02

13) 13:45

14) 11:07

Maybe next time I will shave another 15 minutes off and try for 2:30. That should definitely be possible if I could get a handle on my training!!