First rule of Zombieland: Cardio

(Feeling strong at Valley of the Moon!)

I survived marathon number 2.

Ok, now is not the time for modesty. I did more than survive. I knocked 20 minutes off my previous time. I'm sore, but I'm moving. My knees aren't killing me. In fact they feel great. My hips are very sore, but they always are. And it's Tuesday again! Tuesday Night Race time! I'll decide when I get there whether I'll be doing Farm or Lightning. I SHOULD just do farm. But I never do what I should do. I checked my calendar for what I did after the Mayor's marathon. It was pretty ridiculous. long walks at kincaid. hiking bird ridge, hiking flat top, running, biking, swimming etc.

So maybe I'll just do Lightning after all.

marathon stats:

official time - 4:28:28

41 out of 60 total

16 out of 22 women

average pace: 10:15

first half pace was 9:46 (first half time approx. 2:08)

second half pace...10:32.

Sooooooooo I didn't make my ambitious goal of 4:20. But I had another goal in my head of 4:30 and if I hadn't made that one I was going to be upset. Put out if you will. If I didn't make 4:20 I wasn't really going to be disappointed. I think it's within my ability to run a 4:20 though. Maybe next year. Overlal though I am very very very pleased with my run. I went out fast. I probably shouldn't have. But I was feeling so good. I was running some sub 9:30 miles there for a little bit. But the first part of the course had a lot of downhill. I hit the wall with 6.5 miles to go. Had to walk a little. And definitely walk/jogged up the last hill. I tried to jog the flats and walk the up of that last half mile uphill. I feel like I handled it ok.

Major thanks to Krista for jogging almost 2 miles with me at the critical half way point. Also thanks to Micah for being there to cheer me on. Always great to see familiar faces!

More thanks to Paul for being my photographer and cheering me on at multiple locations. Definitely gave me something to look forward to!

(Smoking it at Westchester Lagoon)(Last long grueling uphill to Kincaid!)