Securian Half Marathon/11.6 mile Race Report!

Ok... whoops! The blog has definitely been on the back burner so far this year. I completely forgot I had a "race" back in Jan. that I still needed to report on. So, here's my official report:

I ran a Half Marathon in January! I don't think I've run a half marathon between the months of November and April EVER, so that was a huge feat in itself. I ran with a good friend who was nice enough to go slow with me. I didn't plan to race that day, I just wanted to do it as a long run, since I had one on the schedule anyway. The one quirk about this race (and it was too bad, because it was the most perfect Jan. day for a race, even being it was the dead of winter in MN) was they had the turn around point too soon! I knew something was up when we got to the turn around point and not too long after, we saw the Mile 8 sign. I knew we hadn't even gotten to Mile 7 yet so was suspicious that the turnaround was early. I had looked up the road while at the turn around and saw a race sign way off in the distance, but wasn't about to argue with the St. Paul police officer who was telling us to turn around at the barricade. Although it wasn't a full half, I look at it that I got a 11.6 mile PR that day. Can't beat a PR no matter how you get it. :) A race distance I've never done before and will probably never do again.

Here we are that day and notice there were no ice caked eyelashes or eyebrows. It was really a beautiful day!

Base training is going well. I'm the process of really focusing more on strength training and protein eating, following the guidelines in my latest read Racing Weight Quick Start Guide by Matt Fitzgerald. Great book, and I highly recommend. Now I just need to crack down and do it EXACTLY as is written before I can recommend it based on experience!