Monterey Bay Half Marathon

This race has been on my bucket list for a while now, mainly because of the medal. Since I ran a half the week before, I made sure to rest my legs. We bummed around Big Sur and it's beautiful!

Since this was a vacay race, I told myself to just run an easy pace and not kill myself. Plus I wasn't so sure about the race course. I figured it would be mostly flat.

I wasn't sure why I was in corral C. There were quite a few corrals, and I was just surprised to be up front. Turns out though I was in the perfect corral. My first mile was an 8:12 and my second mile was an 8:15. Holy smokes! I was feeling good and I didn't waste energy trying to pass people. I knew I needed to slow it down a bit, and told myself to stay under a 9:00 min pace. Mile 4 had a pretty good uphill portion, and that was tough, but I managed to run through it. The course wasn't hilly, but it wasn't flat. It was my most favorite type of course. Rolling hills that aren't too bad, but there's a chance to catch your breath on some of the downhills. I was doing really well keeping it in the 8s.

Mile 1: 8:12
Mile 2: 8:15
Mile 3: 8:43
Mile 4: 8:50
Mile 5: 8:42
Mile 6: 8:44
Mile 7: 8:36
Mile 8: 8:42
Mile 9: 8:50
Mile 10: 8:42
Mile 11: 8:59
Mile 12: 8:38
Mile 13: 9:09 (grrrr)

I figured if I kept it in the 8s I would PR. I realized at the last mile that I could come in at 1:55, which was much better than I expected. I was feeling super tired, but I tried to push it. My official time was 1:55:05. I felt like death in the end, but I can't believe I ran a half marathon at an 8:47 pace!! I never thought it was possible.

Skippo / Saint Louis Half Marathon

I haven't done a back to back race since, well, Dopey. I wasn't signed up for either of these races about a week ago, however, Skippo wasn't sold out and the weather was looking great! I figured, why not! And then I've been wanting to run the Saint Louis Half Marathon, but I was waiting to see what the weather was going to do. Looked lovely, so why not!

Skippo: Weather was on the warm side... but there was cloud cover and it was just a fun race. I tried to run fast on the flats. I knew I'd lose time on the stairs and cardiac hill. Overall, I felt really good! And this is my fastest Skippo yet! I finished with a time of 1:03:51. That's about a 10 minute course PR!

Saint Louis Half Marathon: Today was hot. And my legs were so sore. They took quite a pounding at the Skippo. The first three miles were so tough. I just wanted to give up. I didn't know how I was going to run 13 miles. So I tried to find an easy pace. Which wasn't so easy:

Mile 1: 8:43
Mile 2: 8:51
Mile 3: 8:36

Yikes! We entered Forest Park and it was pretty warm out, but there was cloud cover so that was good. My lungs were feeling fine... but my legs were so tight. It wasn't until mile 5 or so where my legs didn't feel as heavy. But I was still cruising at a pretty good pace. I kept telling myself that I could walk the hills if needed, but when I hit the hills, I gave it my best.

Mile 4: 9:03
Mile 5: 8:51
Mile 6: 8:54
Mile 7: 9:13
Mile 8: 9:02
Mile 9: 8:59
Mile 10: 8:57

Then we exited Forest Park and had to run up Forsyth. It was tough. I thought I was going to have to walk it, but I didn't. I just kept at it. Then I figured out that I could get a sub-2 hour half. So that motivated me to keep running to the finish.

Mile 11: 9:42 (Forsyth Hill)
Mile 12: 9:29
Mile 13: 9:17

My legs felt like jello as I approached the finish line. I ended up running the entire course (except water stations), and I finished with a sub-2 hour race!! It wasn't a PR, but it was close. I finished with a time of 1:59:01.

I have another half marathon next Sunday. I imagine my legs will still be pretty tired. And I don't know the route, so there's that. Could be good, could be bad, we'll see!