Erie Half Marathon

Yes, this is a running blog again!

First, some fun pictures from the last few weeks.

We finally met Bruno and Penny's cousin, Moose!

Bruno enjoyed some couch cuddling after a long day at school/hard run

Can you find the weenie?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this vest from Macy's.  I may be watching too much Real Housewives of New Jersey, though.  Is it appropriate for a kindergarten teacher?  Or at least to wear out to dinner with some jeggings and high boots?  Did not buy it yet...but am thinking of getting it soon!

 I had signed up for the Erie half marathon at Presque Isle to get my body ready for the Marine Corps Marathon I am doing October 30th.  I was pretty unsure about this race, mostly because I just started running at the end of July (due to injury) and have been following my own training plan.  We woke up at 3:30 am this Sunday morning to get to the race around 6:30!  It was an awesome morning for a run, cool, sunny, the only complaint was that it was very windy on a couple of the miles that weren't shaded (we were on the peninsula at Lake Erie).  I had no idea what pace to try for so when my first mile was 6:53 I thought what the heck I might as well try to keep that up!
Mile 2 I caught up to a group of three girls and my mile split was 6:51.  I was feeling pretty comfortable and tried to just relax and enjoy the scenery of Lake Erie.  It was a beautiful fall morning.  6:e58 for the next mile and I reminded myself not to get comfortable and slip off pace.  6:44, 6:52 and by that time I passed two girls who I could tell would probably not catch up, and the other girl that was with us left me in the dust, suddenly taking off at mile 5.  The next few miles we had the wind to deal with, but I felt like I could keep up my pace for the whole race, unlike the last time when I ran this course and totally bombed the last few miles. 

Mile 6 was 6:51.  Next, 6:50, 6:54, and 6:49.  When I got to mile 9 I mentally told myself to start picking it up and 'catch' those marathon runners who started a half hour earlier (they had to do two laps) and just enjoy the feeling of racing again.  My legs were very tired and I was breathing so hard I kinda startleted those marathon runners, but I felt great at the same time.  A lot of very nice marathon runners gave me words of encouragement, especially since I was a girl.  The last four miles were 6:45, 6:42, 6:36, 6:33, and the last .1 at 5:46 pace.  I was thrilled and totally surprised to cross the line and see that I got a 3 second PR at 1:29:03, and that I got third overall!

Nothing beats the feeling of a new PR, especially when you have a marathon coming up that you hope to PR in....after I finished I found my husband of the year, did a two mile cooldown, grabbed some chocolate milk and headed to the lake to take some pictures.

by the lake!

pretty day!

number one fan

My award was a really cool glass picture plaque of one of the lighthouses at Presque Isle.  It was a very good day in Erie, and I got to see a bunch of my friends run the whole marathon and half marathon.  To top it all off, we got back about ten minutes before the Steeler game started - and they won!

Today was a much needed day off from running, mostly because my calves are on fire from racing.

Finally, I am starting to feel like sub 3:10 is possible at Marine Corps!  40 days!