I did it! Half marathon complete!

I ran my half this morning. I'll do a longer recap later, but for now I'll post the quick details. My knee started hurting before I even got one mile in. I was bound and determined to finish, so I ran through the pain. It helped to run towards the middle of the road, which is where I tried to stay for most of the race.

I finished in the 2:28- 2:29 range. I won't know for sure until chip times are posted. I started my watch as I ran across the start, but I totally forgot to check it at the finish. I looked at it when I hit the 13 mile mark and I had 2.5 minutes left to beat my goal of under 2:30. I sprinted at the end, so I know I made it in in time.

I found my friend Ashley at mile 10, and we ran the last 3 miles together. It was awesome to have someone to run with! We talked each other through pain and soreness to the end.

That's all for now. Guess it's time to set a new running goal!

12 days and counting!

The half is coming up fast! I have been so busy lately that my training has taken a little bit of a back seat to child rearing and studying. I did manage a nine mile run on Saturday. It was great! It was slower than I would like, but I suppose that's what race day adrenaline is for. My knees felt stiff afterward, and they were sore on Sunday. I woke up feeling great yesterday and did a four mile run. Huge mistake! My left knee locked up after I stopped running. It didn't hurt at all during the run, though. I think I'm dealing with runner's knee. I'm going to take it easy from now until the half. I would rather go in fresh with recovered knees. I may do a few short runs between now and the, but if I can do nine miles, I can do thirteen. Right?

I'm also trying to plan my post-half workouts. I bought "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" a month or so ago. I'm actually super excited to get started on it. I was considering running a full in the spring, but my past knee problems coupled with runner's knee and IT band issues are making me think that would be a mistake. For now I'm going to focus on dropping more weight and speeding up my 5k times. I'm going to run a 5k in November (maybe one in October after the half), and then take a break with 5ks until maybe February. I'm hoping to be down another 15-20 pounds by then. Is it weird that I want to drop the weight to run faster? This is so not something my old heavier self would have done.