St. George Half Marathon 2011...a recommended race!

St. George Half Marathon Recap, January 21, 2012

I came down to St. George this weekend to run the St. George Half Marathon. My training coaches wanted to see where I was fitness wise. I was really nervous about this race because my last half marathon at the end of last season felt horrible and I had an awful race! Mentally....I knew I really needed to have a good race. I also hadn't ran over 10 miles for the last three months and had already put in 21 miles previously this week. So...I wasn't running on fresh legs. I was so excited to come down to warm weather; unfortunately, the weather didn't want to cooperate! It ended up being rainy with a little bit of wind. I spent the morning of the race trying to plot out my plan for the race...where should I have my heartrate, what paces should I run...I decided I was just going to go on how I felt! The course is awesome...I would say it is a “true half marathon.” The first seven miles has a lot of up hill with the last six being more flat with some false flats. It was a tough half marathon course and a great challenge! I decided I would start with the 1:35 pacers and go from there when I was at the start line. The first couple miles I wasn't feeling great and was a little worried, but at mile three I started to feel great! I passed the 1:35 pacers around mile 5 and decided I wasn't going to let them pass me again. I ended up finding a man who was running a great pace and decided I would stay on his heels and figured at mile 8 if I kept my pace I could come in around 1:32. Unfortunately, the nice man with a nice pace stopped at the aid station at mile 11 and left me to run on my own! Crap! At mile 10 was starting to feel the hurt and I really wanted to walk! But, I pushed through and was not going to walk! The last two miles were painful! My legs hadn't seen these miles for months! I truly pushed to the finish line and finished in 1:32! I was thrilled with my finish time as it was a tough course and I wasn't on fresh legs. I was also able to have a positive race to lead off this coming year. I am so excited for this race season and to push myself to some new limits! And as if the half marathon wasn't enough...thanks to Heath and Mahogani Thurston we rode for 1.5 hours and then swam! Quite the day!