Skip to main content

Tucson Half Marathon

I'm doing a double-post day...because I don't know when I'll be back on my blog to recap the memories! ;)

On December 6, Ryan and I did the Tucson Half Marathon. It was Ryan's 1st half marathon ever. I was on a mission to PR. We both had a successful day.

I 1st have to say how impressed I am with Ryan. He is not big on long distance running. And during the training, he had a flare-up of knee pain which had him out of running for 3 weeks before the race. To be honest, he didn't really train for this race.

He wasn't going to do the race, but Sunday morning at 4am, when I was getting ready to leave -- he decided to give it his best! And that he did. He finished in 1:43:10, just a few minutes behind me! That is not bad for a 1st half marathon, especially not training!!

(and was a good sport about his wife beating him....)

We stuck together for the 1st 5 miles, met up again around 8-9miles, and then I took off with adrenaline. I definitely ran the fastest I've ever gone. I finished in 1:40:25, which was a 7:39 pace! I got 6/69 in my age group, 29/572 for women, and 100/977 overall!

Even during the last 3 miles, which were quite hilly, I was still able to keep a 7:50/mile pace. So now my hopes/expectations for my full marathon in February has "shifted". But I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself.

I have figured out that if I can run a 3:35 marathon (8:12/mile avg pace), I can qualify for Boston. Which is a dream that I have fantasized about for years.

So my currently marathon training has a new flavor...which you will unfortunately have to hear about in the next post (yawn) ;).

We look sweaty, but we were actually quite chilled in this picture. It was about 40 degrees. Which I know my midwest friends will laugh at me for calling this "chilly". It was perfect running conditions! 


Comments

Lisa's Yarns said…
Congrats to both of you! I think Ryan's time is AMAZING for a first 1/2 - or any half actually. I am pretty sure I could never run a half that fast so he should be proud of his time! And congrats to you for running such a strong race, too, and surprising yourself! I'm excited to see what you do at the marathon. It will certainly be a PR given how strong you are running these days. BQ'ing would be awesome, too, but try not to put too much pressure on yourself to do that (plus these days it seems like you need a 2-3 minute cushion to get into Boston which is such a bummer!). I know you'll do great out there, though, and it seems like if there was ever a year to BQ, this would be it for you since you are feeling strong and healthy!!

Popular posts from this blog

One Confused Lady

Yesterday morning was packed with a session of cross training.....rushed home to shower and get professional-looking....headed across town for an interview.....kicked butt at my interview...."bopped" over to our house to see the progress of the build......headed to the "design center" to sign more paperwork.... (Side note: I cannot get over just how much paperwork is involved in building a house. Holy Hannah. And we haven't even closed !!! Iy-yi-yi....Those lovely people in history who got law-suit-happy.....God bless 'em.) Yesterday was a good day! So here's a little humor for your Thursday. A little thought. A little depth.....( A little cynical rant ) Afterwards, I decided to head to one of my favorite places to peruse.... Target. But my experience at Target was far from fun, relaxing, or pleasant. Just confusing. Loud. Crazy. Despite many screaming children-temper tantrums.... Which is common and un-escapable. Although screaming chi...

A weekend of the great outdoors

As I am preparing for my return to the real world tomorrow, I feel a strong sense of dread. As I won't have a weekend or free week for a long while! Instead of focusing on that.......I'm sharing a few snapshots from our awesome weekend! This weekend we were in Big Lake, AZ -- which is about 20 miles from the New Mexico border (just 5 1/2 hours from our house). (last weekend we were in Parker Canyon...which I will blog about another day) We camped from Friday-Monday, which was the perfect length of time. The temperatures were a great escape from hot Tucson. In fact...it was VERY cold at night. It was in the low 30's at night, 60's during the day. The trout fishing was incredible. Here's a few snapshots: Home Sweet Home for the weekend! Look at the giant tree I cut down!!! Wow!! (Okay, this was posed...) But...Ryan did teach me how to use a wood-saw! There were tons of dead/fallen trees lying around. So we cut all our firewood for the weekend! I felt very ...

St. Anthony, Where are you??!!??

So. Let's talk about my day so far. And why I suck at being organized. Do any of you know these people who always have it together? They never lose ANYTHING. They have a spare set of every important document, item possible. Every document has a file, every item has a place, every place has a label. They are always collected, have every duck is in the row. They live in perfection. This description is my husband: Ryan. My second question: Do you know anyone who's life is an absolute train wreck? They are always running in circles. They cannot be responsible for an important item if their life depended on it, because the strangest things happen to them. They never seem to be at the right place, or never seem to be on time. They cell phone often ends up in the refrigerator. There is always a giant debacle occurring. This description is me: Abby. Well this morning two people of this nature got to mingle a little. Well, they happen to be husband and wife--so they have to mingle withi...