Lesley's Running Blog

5.00 miles Knysna, South Africa. 7:30 pace, 37:34 overall time.

3.25 miles Galapagos Islands. 6:40 pace, 22:44 overall time.

Kaiteriteri Bay, New Zealand. 6.05 miles. 7:30 pace, 45:24 overall time.

1.00 miles Bochum, Germany. 7:09 pace.

No second workouts this week, and starting to cut my miles down to get ready for my half marathon on Saturday.

Went on Aubrey's school fieldtrip so ran 4.00 miles during nap time. 30:32 overall time, 7:37 pace.

3.00 miles pushing double stroller. Took this run really easy and it felt like crap. I always expect tapering to feel great, but more often than not I feel sluggish. My knee was bugging and I woke up with a stiff hip. But I knew these were minor things that I could shake out before the race.

Came home and ran 1.00 miles on the treadmill. 8:37 pace, Scalloway Scotland.

Tapering. Felt better today than yesterday. 2 miles easy pushing double stroller.

Everything fell into place the week before this race and I knew I could have a great race. I didn't do any intervals or tempo runs or much speed work at all in my training, just cranked out a lot miles on the treadmill mixed with some longer runs on Saturday. I was confident I was more fit than last year and could beat my time of 1:30.

I warmed up 2.00 miles up the road, nice and easy. It was cool at the start and I got off the bus with more than an hour before the race started, so I was ready to warm up literally. Once again, warming up pays off and half a mile up the road was an empty campground with lots of open bathrooms. Beats waiting twenty plus minutes at the port a potties.

Got lined up and once the gun went off I saw 5-6 girls dash out in front of me. I wanted to start conservative, and aim for a 1:25 pace (6:30). I ended up running next to a girl and noticed she had on an Ogden Half Marathon shirt. What a small world! Ran with her for 5ish miles and then slowly left her behind and started picking off each girl in front of me.

By mile 7 I was in second place, with 1st place a good quarter mile ahead, but I was gaining on her. By mile 8 she was standing on the side of the road cramped up.

Once I took the lead my adrenaline took over and I just kept cranking out the miles. I had a biker who stayed with me because I was the lead girl, and he kept my updated on who was behind me, and how far. By mile 10 it was obvious that I was going to win, as long as nothing crazy happened. I had no idea what time I was going to finish at, but knew I was still consistently under 1:25 pace.

The last mile I was starting to get fatigued, but the crowds pulled me in and I finished in 1:23:35. My best half is 1:22:59 (Ogden Half 2007), but this race was at sea level so I have to factor that in as well, yet I do feel like it is a bit harder course than Ogden. 

It was so fun to be fit again! I haven't won a race since having kids, and hadn't run under a 1:30 half marathon since having kids either. Which means it has been almost 7 years! I know with some speedwork I can still see improvements. So exciting.

Not sure what my next race will be, but I need to get signed up for something to keep me motivated. And I won $150!

Splits: 6:16, 6:28, 6:27, 6:24, 6:19, 6:21, 6:23, 6:17, 6:14, 6:24, 6:23, 6:28, 6:20, 6:04 pace (last .14)