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Nike Women’s 1/2

April 29, 2013 By: project30in20129 Comments

Race Day Swag

Race Day Swag

Well, folks, I’m pleased to report that the Nike Women’s 1/2 Marathon is done and I made it! As I wrote about, I was in Tampa until Saturday afternoon working my organization’s annual conference. It was filled with late nights and (very) early mornings and I knew I’d be tired. In addition, I was quite nervous because I woke up Saturday morning and my right calf was extremely tight. I stretched all day but after flying home Saturday afternoon, my calf was still tight.

For a variety of reasons, I didn’t go to bed nearly as early as I wanted to and was pretty nervous about the whole race. I just told myself that all I had to do was finish. I didn’t care how long it took me or what my time was – I cared about crossing that finish line and getting my Tiffany necklace. When I woke up, I rubbed some icyhot on my calf, hoping to at least numb the pain. I ate a tiny bit of yogurt, drank some water and headed off to the start. The weather was perfect and it was pretty awesome to see 15,000 women ready to run.

As I settled in to a good pace, I realized that my left calf was quite sore. Go figure. This was pretty early in the race, so I just tried to ignore it and focus on the scenery and my music. There were water stations every 2 miles, which was fantastic. I never felt like I was dehydrated (which was a problem in last year’s Rock and Roll 1/2), which is a great thing. Then came mile 6. All of a sudden my music stopped playing. I was in disbelief. How in the world could I finish 7.1 miles with no music, when I can barely run 3 miles without my playlist? It was seriously demoralizing and I wondered how it would affect the rest of the race. I spent a lot of time praying and eavesdropping on others’ conversations 🙂 While it wasn’t nearly as horrible as I thought it would be, I won’t be ditching my playlist anytime soon.

Another great thing about this race is that the course mirrored the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, which meant I got a great preview of the run a few weeks ago. I think that really helped me during miles 6-9, on Haines Point. This is a pretty dull stretch of the race, even though it’s pretty. It was really tough for me a few weeks ago, but on Sunday I was prepared for how I’d feel and it wasn’t that tough. I will add that mile 10 took us up a short hill, that caused a lot of runners to walk. I kept running, but my pace definitely dropped here. What really caused a little consternation for me was that before I even saw mile 12, my GPS said I’d finished 13 miles. This isn’t uncommon – GPS technology used for races is often much more high tech then the technology used by your phone. But it was jarring to hear that my workout was finished, when it absolutely wasn’t. After all was said and done, my GPS said I’d run 14.76 miles. So it was over a mile off — more than usual, but not too ridiculous.

As I mentioned, I just wanted to finish this race. I knew that after the week I had, it would be tough to get a great time. Imagine my surprise, when I saw that my average time was 10:23 minutes per mile. I have no idea how that happened, but I’ll take it.

Next up: Capitol Hill Classic 10k on May 19. See you there!

Check out the average pace!

Check out the average pace!


Comments

  1. Amy says

    April 29, 2013 at 9:44 am

    Congrats Court! 🙂

    Reply
    • project30in2012 says

      April 29, 2013 at 9:45 am

      Thanks Amy!

      Reply
  2. ametanoia says

    April 29, 2013 at 10:15 am

    Yay! I love reading about your races–it’s inspiring!

    Reply
    • project30in2012 says

      April 29, 2013 at 10:18 am

      Thanks! It’s fun for me to share with everyone — plus when I want to quit, I think about how I’ll be eventually blogging about it 🙂

      Reply
  3. Kilara says

    April 29, 2013 at 10:17 am

    Well done Courtney – I would love to do it with you next year, but have decided I’m genetically, physically, spiritually, mentally incapable of running for more than about 5 mins in a row … 😉

    Reply
    • project30in2012 says

      April 29, 2013 at 10:17 am

      Kilara, I love a challenge…and it sounds like my next one is convincing you to run with me 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. After a Race | Project 30 in 2012 says:
    April 30, 2013 at 11:00 am

    […] Nike Women’s 1/2 […]

    Reply
  2. Five for Friday Linkup! | Eat Pray Run, DC says:
    August 16, 2013 at 8:48 am

    […] the movie. I am scheduled to run 8 miles Saturday morning and this will be my longest run since the Nike Women’s Half in April. […]

    Reply
  3. How to Choose a Race | Eat Pray Run, DC says:
    September 25, 2013 at 9:28 am

    […] 2. Use your common sense. Just because a race seems cool is no reason to do things you’d never normally do. For example , it might not be the smartest idea to sign up for a race that doesn’t start until 9:30 on a hot DC July day*. You KNOW that’s going to be miserable – just say no. Also, take into account your personal circumstances. If, for example, you have a week long work conference that involves early mornings and late nights, you probably shouldn’t run a half marathon the day after you return home from travel. Not that I did that or anything. Ahem. […]

    Reply

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