Chi Half Marathon Race Report!

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I did it! I broke 2 hours in the half marathon, breaking my PR of 2:05:05! My official time was 1:59:20. woot! I decided to stay with the 2:00 pacers. I hadn't ever done that before, but it was really helpful to have a visual representation of my goal. Every time I stopped at a water station, I would have to catch back up to them. But I guess that makes sense, because you have to make up for water stops when you are going for a certain time on your own anyway.

Oooh man. I'm so happy I did it.

5 mile split: 45:53 (9:10 average)
10 mile split: 1:30:53 (9:05 average)
Finish time: 1:59:20 (9:06 average)

So apparently the fastest part of my race was the between 5 and 10 miles. And I must have slowed down at the end.

But I didn't hit a wall this year. And I didn't use gels. Because I'm pretty sure they mess my stomach up. So what did I use?


Honey packets! That I got for free from starbucks. Mhmm. And I tried them out for the first time in this race. Probably not a great idea to try something new in a race, but I didn't do so great with my long runs while I was down in Georgia. But I got lucky because they seemed to work! My only complaint is that they were extremely difficult to open.. I had them in my running shorts pocket and by the time I got one out to use it, it was pretty sweaty (eww). I finally figured it out though and took 2 of them during the race and also stopped for several gatorade stopped. And no wall! I did slow down but it was nothing like what happened last year where I felt like my legs were jello and I was struggling to stay at maybe an 11-minute pace tops.

Soo much fun. I love this race. If I can, I'm going to do it again next year. I heart chicago. This was also on the 10-year anniversary of September 11th so everyone wore red, white, and/or blue. Here is a pic of my and my friends, who also did pretty amazing.


So.. now I've got to find a half-marathon turkey trot out in Seattle area so I can try to beat my time again!

Comments

  1. BekahSeptember 13, 2011 at 1:31 PM

    Yeah!! Proud of you, Amy :) And I didn't even know there were restaurants that still had honey packets... good to know and good talking to you last night!

    ReplyDelete

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