I Came, I Ran, I Finished, I PR'ed

Geaux me. I rock. I'm a total rockstar.

So, after a nearly year-long hiatus, I ran another half-marathon. My 5th, to be exact. And I PR'ed!! My final chip time: 2:49:40. I previous best time was my first half-marathon 2 years ago (Houston) at 2:56:07. I'm very happy with this race's results.

Lori and I wanted to finish in under three, and I wanted to PR, so I set my Garmin virtual trainer for 2 hours, 55 minutes, which would average 13:21, I think. Again, we finished in 2:49:40, with an average mile of 12:56.

Here's the breakdown:
Before the race: I lost my personal Champion Chip! I'm so upset. I had it at the expo, because they scanned it, and then I haven't seen it since. I turned out my car, my clothes, my room... nothing. THANK GOD they went ahead and put a chip in my bag and I had the sense to make sure that one worked. But I'm highly upset that my San Diego Rock-n-Roll 2005 Marathon champion chip is gone. :(

At the race: The best costume goes to Flash Gordon and Superman. Flash Gordon wore the red unitard thing, complete with face mask and wings. And they both came in at around 4 hours for the full.

Mile 1: 13:00. Cold, crowded. Very crowded. Need more wave starts - specifically one for the walkers.
Mile 2: 12:21. The crowd is sorta thinning out. My light jacket is now around my waist.
Mile 3: 11:53. Crowd much thinner now. I was nearly tripped, though, by someone who was behind me. Seriously, somehow her foot ended up between mine. I screamed "Watch out!" as I pitched forward. Seriously people - watch where you're going!
Mile 4: 11:53. I laugh that this one was the same as the one before. And they were our best miles. And some downhills.
Mile 5: 12:44. My hands are getting numb.
Mile 6: 12:10. We ate Gus.
Mile 7: 13:05. Who knows. I know I'm getting tired, and since we were still ahead of the running man, I opted to walk an extra minute.
Mile 8: 12:41. Lori made me speed up again.
Mile 9: 12:38. My knee is starting to twitch. Took another gu. Ran into Lori's family somewhere around here.
Mile 10: 13:13. Starting to reconsider training for another full marathon.
Mile 11: 13:11. One foot, two foot, one foot, two foot.
Mile 12: 13:43. Knee really hurts, but I'm not telling anyone.
Mile 13: 12:49. This is downtown, and my Garmin was acting up. I don't think this is accurate.
Last bit: 4:11. Again, the Garmin acted up. It said I actually ran 13:43 miles, which can't be right - and I'm not sure where it messed up - probably mile 12 and 13. I do believe we ran 13:2 or 13:3 from all of the dodging of people early on, but whatever.

I still PR'ed!

I am extremely wiped out now. My knee isn't hurting at all now (it stopped hurting when I stopped running) but my calves are aching. Luckily, I have a Stick and will be rolling it out.

So, life is good.

Cheers!