😍😍I ran the Salt Lake Half Marathon yesterday morning. This is the race I signed up for in November and have spent a few months training for. It's the first race I've designed an actual training plan for in years. Previous to April I hadn't run a half marathon since Halloween 2015 when I ran one down in South Carolina with my brother and Bill. I was barely pregnant with Chloe at the time.
I did most all of my training with my South Jordan Run Club, and specifically with my friend Katie. We run a really similar pace and have found we have a great time running together. We decided to make some actual pace goals for this race. We chose to train to run a 2-hour half marathon. At the time that felt like a bit of a stretch goal. Back in my 20s I ran faster times than that, but I've not run all that fast in a couple years since I injured my hamstring and it has been a persistent injury in some form or another ever since.
So we created a training plan that included speed work and some good long runs. We added yoga in and some weight training. It was a 12-week plan, so we started in February. The weather was so awful this winter, so I'm really glad we decided to train and setup a schedule because otherwise I wouldn't have wanted to be out on so many of those runs.
In March Katie mentioned that the Riverton Half happened to fall on a day we were already planning to run 13 miles. We both signed up and a friend of ours, who is also a running coach, ran it with us. The week before that race we ran another 13-mile training run and even not pushing very hard, after seven or eight weeks of dedicated speed training and weight lifting, we ran a 2:04 half. That kind of blew us away. We talked a big talk that we would just run chill at Riverton, but of course we didn't. I don't think it's possible for me to run in an actual race and take it easy. And you know what? We rocked it. I finished in 1:58 on a course that was a few tenths longer than a half marathon distance. It was awesome. And then I totally fell off the motivation wagon to keep the speed training up. I faded out of the weight lifting too, though this was more purposeful because I was feeling like I was over training just a bit and wanted to prioritize sleep and down days more.
So yesterday morning I came into the race not really knowing what I wanted to do. I'd already hit my sub-two hour half goal. But Katie and I were chatting beforehand deciding what pace group to line up with and I said well, I'll probably line up with the two-hour one. She said she was thinking about going with the 1:55. I didn't realize there was a 1:55, so of course I said sure, I'll do that too. Mind you, that's an 8:46 mile pace for the full distance. That's on the top edge of what we were training at in most of our runs, so it definitely felt like we weren't sure we'd be able to make it happen. But this is what good running buddies are for. We push each other to try just a little bit harder things and then help each other make it happen.
Turns out I really like the course for this race. It starts at the parking lot of the stadium at the U. You run a couple miles flat and slightly uphill through the avenues, and then have a three-mile descent down to downtown Salt Lake. This part was SO fast. We had ridden TRAX up to the race and only had 12 minutes to go to get to the start. So we dropped our gear bags off and then went straight to the start. We didn't have time to make a bathroom stop. I decided to take a quick stop at mile three, but Katie kept running. I spent the next two miles chasing her down. I really wanted to run with her for the race. We've run several races together and never been able to actually stay together the whole time, so that was one thing I wanted to try to do. Since the course was so downhill through this section, it took me a while, but I did catch up to her at about mile five. Those mile splits are so fast, lololol.
Mile six was a total slog. It's east up South Temple and after the steep downhill is just so hard. Katie glued herself to the 1:55 pacer, but it felt a bit too fast for me. I wouldn't say he was the best pacer I've seen. His technique seemed to be go as fast as you can the first half and slow way down the second. So I dropped back a bit on this mile. My friend and running coach Andy taught me you don't always have to keep the same pace in a race. Sounds obvious, but I have tended to try to keep going as fast as I can throughout whatever race I'm doing. Instead, I dropped back on mile six, knowing I actually could speed back up when it felt better. Once we turned on 9th East, I was able to pick the pace back up. There was a beast of a hill at 800S. Just a couple blocks long, but SO steep. That did not feel good.
I kept Katie in my sights the whole time, but it took a good long while to catch back up. I think I caught up finally at about mile nine. Those last few miles are all flat, which is very welcome after the several hills from six to nine. As we turned onto the final stretch, she was like, let's go! We both picked up the pace to "sprint" to the finish. It's not really a sprint when you've run 13 miles, lol. But we did run faster for that last .1. She out kicked me by a couple strides, which was fine. Last month when we did the Riverton Half she was a bit sick and I'd had more in my tank to finish first that one. Didn't actually bother me at all when she had more to give in that final bit.
I knew we had run a fantastic pace the whole race. I'd been watching the mile splits, but not so much the overall time until the last few miles. We absolutely flew up to mile five. But turns out we'd never really let up and that came through on our times. I finished in 1:52! Eight minutes ahead of my goal! Six minutes faster than Riverton. So amazing. I'm quite comfortable running anywhere from a 9-11 minute pace on any given group run. Sometimes I go as fast as an 8:45. But in no thought I'd had did I think I'd have sub 8-minute miles and a solid chunk of 8:30 miles. Turns out we had a lot more in us than we thought when we put our minds to it! It felt SO good.
I'm incredibly sore today. Yesterday I was muscle tired sore. Today I'm you ran a chunk of your downhill race super fast, so don't even try to walk up stairs for a while sore. Hahaha! It's the way it goes. I'm so satisfied with the whole thing. I love that Katie and I persevered through snowy runs and ice and cold. I'm glad we set some big goals and then when we hit them, set another one. I'm thrilled to have achieved it.
I'm planning to run the Revel Half, which is down Big Cottonwood Canyon, in September. I haven't signed up yet and I decided last week to make a to do item to sign up for it next week, not this weekend, because I wasn't sure I'd feel like doing another half while sore after this one. Haha! Turns out I'm so pleased with how this one went, I'm ready to sign up for the next. It's so satisfying to have an outlet to set and reach hard goals. So much of the rest of my life is filling others' needs. I very much enjoy helping my kids achieve awesome things. I enjoy my work. And it turns out there's still a place that feels super good to make and achieve goals just because I want to and I can. Feels great!
