Saturday, May 23, 2009

May 23, 2009 - tuned up and ready to go

well, i have decided to give it a go tomorrow at the 2nd annual "Not So Hilly" Half Marathon, in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. i had a gentle 3k tune up run tonight around Kent's pond. i think having a restful day was just what i needed. i picked up a car for the day and did a few errands and visited Topsail Beach, one of my fav spots. too bad the weather was so cold (5-10 degrees all day). not exactly beach weather but the place was still beautiful.

hard to believe this will be my first official half marathon after all this time. i've completed 17 official full marathons since May 2007.

my PB first half of a full marathon was the 2008 Mississauga Marathon, when i crossed the midpoint at 1:32:31. my POPB first half of a full marathon, ironically enough, was the 2009 Boston Marathon, when i crossed the midpoint at 1:52:29. this just 48 hours after running a very difficult Charlottesville Marathon.

in theory, you want to run a half marathon at a faster pace than a full, as there is no reason to save anything in the tank for km 22-42. but in my case, the tank will be half empty to start with, given that i have hardly recovered from the 5 marathons i have run in the past 30 days...

On May 5, i ran a 14k in 69.22, and felt that i could have carried on at that pace for a while yet, so i am going to plan to run at this pace. so the goal will be to run a 1.46.00.

i still can't believe i ran a 1.52 in Boston, and a 1.32 in Mississauga for that matter!

once again, there is a chance that this may be my last Newfoundland race as a Newfoundlander, as i could be on the move any time if a job offer comes my way, so i will be putting a little pressure on myself to give it my all. if this is indeed my swan song, i want to go out on a high note!

Jennifer

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