Two Miles

I was feeling much better on Thursday, so I decided to try running again. I hoped to do 3 miles, but decided to stop after 2 because I didn't feel I could go much further. So I did about 2 miles, about half of which was uphill.

Two Days Later

I am actually probably more sore today than I was yesterday. However, I did decide to go ahead and work out a bit today. I ran 1 mile in about 9:15, then walked a mile, then did 15 minutes on an exercise bike. The run hurt a lot! Now it's time to takw a couple of days off.

It's Over!

I completed the half-marathon yesterday. Unfortunately, I was not able to run the entire course without walking. I am disappointed about that, but I am happy that I ran the longest I have ever run before I had to walk. Also, I am happy that I completed the race and was able to run over the finish line.


The race started out pretty well. I was under a 10 minute mile pace for the first 2 miles (around 9:55 or so), and was at about 40 minutes when I reached the 4 mile mark. I started to really slow down and feel drained by the time I got to the 6 mile mark, but I kept running at that point. Shortly before the 8 mile mark, I reached the beginning of a long, upward hill, which was a real challenge at that point in the race. Part way up the hill, I passed the 8 mile mark and kept running for a couple hundred yards. Then I had to walk. At this point, I had been running for over 1 hour and 22 minutes, about 2 minutes longer than my previous longest ever run. I walked the rest of the way up the hill, then ran again on the downhill leg, until I reached and aid station and walked while I ate an orange slice and drank some water. For about the next 3 miles I ran and walked off and on, running on the downhill portions, and walking up the hills. After the 11 mile mark, I ran a downhill portion of about 3/4 of a mile, then walked until about the last 3/4 miles of the race. I was able to run the last 3/4 miles, even though there were a number of times I really felt like I needed to walk. I crossed the finish line in 2:28:14, which while slower than I had hoped, was still acceptable.


Here are some of my stats:

Overall Place: 2627 out of 3839 finishers
Place by Gender: 1555 out of 1930 finishers
Place for Males 35-39: 236 out of 278 finishers

I am very sore today, but glad that I was able to complete this race. I definitely hope that I can do better if I choose to try again next year. I think that having to take a few weeks off (essentially) due to my calf injury hurt my training a lot. Also, only building up to 8 miles in training was not enough. My training plan had me doing 11 miles a couple of times in training, but unfortunately, I was not able to get there, and I think that is a large part of why I needed to walk a lot during the last 5 miles of the race.

10 More

I ran for 1 hour and 19 minutes on Saturday - just about 8 miles. Then on Monday I did 2 miles in just over 19 minutes. Only 3 more days!

A Half Marathon in Three Parts

I have run a total of about 13 miles since my last post.

Last Saturday, I went to a local trail and ran 8 miles (80 minutes). I felt pretty good the whole way, though the last half mile was a struggle.

On Monday, I ran 2 miles in 19:04.

Today, I ran about 3 miles in 30 minutes, including running up the steep hill where I hurt my calf the last time I tried it.

Three Miles

I ran a little over 3 miles yesterday, including one long, gradual uphill stretch. I felt fine the entire run, but I was a bit sore later in the day.

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks out from the half marathon. I hope to run 8 miles tomorrow morning, or at least a minimum of 6 miles. Hopefully that will be long enough to prepare me for race day, as I just don't have time to build up to 11 miles like I had hoped.

40 More

I ran another 40 minutes (4 miles) on Monday. My route included running up 3 steep hills, which I was able to do without any calf pain.