Yesterday morning, I ran my first official half-marathon race, and the ninth public running race of my young 53 years. It was LifeSouth's Five Points of Life Half-Marathon, held simultaneously with their marathon event. About a thousand runners participated, with about two thirds of them (like me) opting for the half-marathon. This race began in 2006 and, with each passing year, I had been kicking myself for letting it go by without at least giving it a shot. But not this time!
I had already been running for some time, but I was confining my distances to around 3-4 miles at a run. But a little more than a month ago, I checked out a book from my public library titled Ultramarathon Man by running fanatic Dean Karnazes and was so inspired by his story that I set out to prepare myself for this year's event. I did two half-marathon-length runs around my own neighborhood, as well as other runs of nine and ten miles (not to mention several of shorter length). I knew that this alone wasn't the same as the LifeSouth course: my neighborhood is flat as a board and the half-marathon I would be running in traversed many hills and long, upward-sloping stretches of road. Still, I took the plunge and signed up for the race.
As race day approached, though, it became apparent that the weather would not be cooperating with me. And it didn't. At 7 AM yesterday (the race belatedly began 20 minutes later), the temperature was 28 degrees (last year's race began at 61 degrees). Being a Floridian almost my whole life, I was not prepared to run in extremely cold weather, but I donned a sweatshirt, long running pants, and decided to do the best I could. Still, in those few minutes before the race I was shivering quite a lot!
My goal for the race was simple: don't worry about where you place in the results, run consistently at a reasonable pace, and finish it! Well, I didn't place all that well (428th out of 600 finishers), but I did keep up a reasonably consistent pace and enjoyed the run. I particularly enjoyed the part where I could run the whole 13.1 miles through Gainesville down the middle of the street with the police being stationed everywhere, stopping all of the traffic for me! If only it could be like that all the time!
I received a medal for finishing the run and am enjoying a remarkably quick physical recovery. Looking back, I'm sure I could have finished with a much better time, all of the hills and slopes notwithstanding. At race's end, I felt as if I could have gone on for at least five or six more miles and wasn't the least bit winded. The only problem I experienced was some aches in my feet. My left leg began to cramp some a little later after the run, but that subsided without too much pain. I probably need some new running shoes that conform better to my personal style of foot placement.
Here are the results for LifeSouth's half-marathon this year, 2010. I feel very content with my participation and performance. I have as a goal to run a full 26.2-mile marathon by this time next year (perhaps in the LifeSouth Marathon). But I will need to invest a little bit of money in more suitable running gear (especially the shoes) and lose a few more pounds as well. And training some over hills wouldn't hurt either!
I had already been running for some time, but I was confining my distances to around 3-4 miles at a run. But a little more than a month ago, I checked out a book from my public library titled Ultramarathon Man by running fanatic Dean Karnazes and was so inspired by his story that I set out to prepare myself for this year's event. I did two half-marathon-length runs around my own neighborhood, as well as other runs of nine and ten miles (not to mention several of shorter length). I knew that this alone wasn't the same as the LifeSouth course: my neighborhood is flat as a board and the half-marathon I would be running in traversed many hills and long, upward-sloping stretches of road. Still, I took the plunge and signed up for the race.
As race day approached, though, it became apparent that the weather would not be cooperating with me. And it didn't. At 7 AM yesterday (the race belatedly began 20 minutes later), the temperature was 28 degrees (last year's race began at 61 degrees). Being a Floridian almost my whole life, I was not prepared to run in extremely cold weather, but I donned a sweatshirt, long running pants, and decided to do the best I could. Still, in those few minutes before the race I was shivering quite a lot!
My goal for the race was simple: don't worry about where you place in the results, run consistently at a reasonable pace, and finish it! Well, I didn't place all that well (428th out of 600 finishers), but I did keep up a reasonably consistent pace and enjoyed the run. I particularly enjoyed the part where I could run the whole 13.1 miles through Gainesville down the middle of the street with the police being stationed everywhere, stopping all of the traffic for me! If only it could be like that all the time!
I received a medal for finishing the run and am enjoying a remarkably quick physical recovery. Looking back, I'm sure I could have finished with a much better time, all of the hills and slopes notwithstanding. At race's end, I felt as if I could have gone on for at least five or six more miles and wasn't the least bit winded. The only problem I experienced was some aches in my feet. My left leg began to cramp some a little later after the run, but that subsided without too much pain. I probably need some new running shoes that conform better to my personal style of foot placement.
Here are the results for LifeSouth's half-marathon this year, 2010. I feel very content with my participation and performance. I have as a goal to run a full 26.2-mile marathon by this time next year (perhaps in the LifeSouth Marathon). But I will need to invest a little bit of money in more suitable running gear (especially the shoes) and lose a few more pounds as well. And training some over hills wouldn't hurt either!
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