I Met this Girl Named Michael this Weekend

and I really liked her.  I don't know where she came from, but I hope she stays around.

This is my KC Half Marathon Recap:

Me & Jim post race

I have to admit, going into this race I was NOT excited.  I had set a PR just two weeks prior at the MO' Cowbell Half Marathon which was pretty darn flat and the KC Half  is HILLY (almost 700 feet of elevation gain) so I knew there was no way I could PR here.  Plus two half marathons in two weeks was alot for me.  It would just be a training race for my marathon and that would be just fine.  I knew I'd still have fun because I was going with my hubby Jim and he was running his first of two back to back marathons (you can read his phenomenal post here).  I knew no matter what I would be done in plenty of time to watch him cross the finish line and that would make me happy!

This race is my nemesis....seriously.  In 2009 I ran my first half marathon and trained for it in only 7 weeks - my longest run going in to the race was only 8 miles and I finished in 2:52.  I had so much fun at that race that I signed up for the KC half.  For this one I got serious - I trained for 16 full weeks, I had long runs of 11 or 12 miles.  I was so ready.  Race day came and the hills kicked my BUTT!  By mile 4 I seriously wasn't sure if I could even make it 13.1.  I was so disappointed.  The weather was cold and damp (it had rained just before race start).  I ended up finishing in 2:50.  I was just so upset that I had trained so hard and only took 2 minutes off my time. Then I signed up for the race again last year, and ended up with a tibial stress fracture and couldn't do it.  I had all these mental images in my head going into the race.  I knew I could improve my previous time, but I figured I'd finish somewhere around 2:45.  I could live with that.

Course elevation from my Garmin

Jim and I got up early Saturday morning.  It was chilly in the low 40s - but perfect for running.  It was supposed to be in the mid 60s and sunny by the time we finished - and no wind - seriously another race with perfect weather.  The weather in Missouri this October has just been wonderful!!

We arrived a little later than we anticipated and the line of traffic was crazy to get parked.  Jim started panicking a bit, but I told him we would be fine - we still had about 45 minutes til race start.  We got parked and headed our separate ways.  Jim went to drop his gear bag and do his pre-race warm-up and I headed to the bathroom line where I would wait for almost 20 minutes!  Race time was there before I knew it.  I went out to the start line and started to get those little butterflies.  Here we go again! 

OK, although I knew I was going to be around 2:45 I had secretly printed out a 2:35 pace schedule.  I knew I couldn't do 2:35 since my PR was 2:37 just two weeks ago, but I thought maybe it would be good to keep it and try to follow it for the first 6 miles or so until I got really tired.  It's the pace chart the actual pace teams use, so it's paced with the hills in mind and of course it starts out slow to warm-up.  I knew I should start slow because at MO' Cowbell I went out way too fast trying to "bank" some time, and really hit the wall in the last mile.  It called for a 12:14 pace for the first mile and 12:04 for the second.   The first mile was uphill so it was pretty easy to take it slow, although I still finished it in an 11:50 - still a bit faster than planned.  The second mile was downhill so it was easy to speed up, that one was defnintely too fast at 11:16.   At mile 3 you approach your first really big hill. It was about this point that I ran into the 2:30 pace team.  They were walking up the hill, so I decided if they were walking it I would too.  Seemed smart  - my third mile was my slowest mile of the race.  I felt like I was going too slow, so I ran past the 2:30 pacers, but then decided I must be going a little too fast if I was passing them so I slowed it down a bit and hung to the side of that group for awhile.  I thought if I hung with them I'd slow my pace down.  I was feeling great and running strong, it was hard to hold back, but I knew I should if I wanted to have anything left at the end.  At some point the 2:35 pace group passed the 2:30 pace group...not sure why. Anyway, I just decided to try to kind of stay between these two groups.  I had started well behind the 2:35 pacers, so I knew I was a few minutes ahead of this pace.

Miles 4-8 just kind of flew by.  Normally about mile 4 I start my walk/run ratio, but I was feeling so good, I didin't do it.  I walked through the water stops and walked for 1 minute at the end of each mile, but that was it.  Miles 4-8 were really fast for me averaging around 11 minutes.  Miles 8-10 are pretty much straight uphill, and I started to slow here, walking a bit more up some of the hills, but never for more than 30 seconds to a minute.  I was kind of expecting to "give up" here.  But suddenly when I finished mile 10 I realized - hey I only have a 5K left.  I can do this.  My overall pace was still around 11:30 and the course was ready to move into a nice long downhill to flat section.  The 2:30 pacers had passed me, but I was still right behind the 2:35 pacers.  I started thinking I could actually do it.  I might be able to PR.  At mile 12 I paced the 2:35 pacers and knew I had it.  I crossed the finish line in 2:32:29 official time - a 5 minute PR from just two weeks ago where I had a 13 minute PR.  I had cut 18 minutes of my best time between the two races!!  I was grinning from ear to ear when I passed the finish line!  My Garmin time had been 11:29, but I had also ran 13.29 instead of 13.1.  It didn't matter.  I had an overall pace in the 11s!!!  I couldn't believe it.  And I felt GREAT at the end of the race.  I knew I could have run even farther.....which is good since I will be doing just that this weekend when I attempt my first 15 mile run and first run EVER over 13.1!

My Garmin splits

I finished, stretched, refueled and then waited for Jim to cross the finish line of marathon #1.  He came strolling across - making it look easy of course.  I still couldn't belive he'd be doing this again tomorrow.  I won't go in to the details of his race, I'll let you read those for yourself, but know that I was INCREDIBLY proud of him on Sunday!  What an amazing and inspiring athlete!  Congrats Jim!!!  I love you BABY!


So that's the story of how I met the NEW Michael.....the one who pushed herself, and ran her fastest race EVER!  I seriously hope she stays around.  I'd really like to see more of this girl!

This is a picture of a cow.  This is for Coy Martinez :)

And of course what race is complete without a milk mustache pic!