Crazy things DID happen

You know what I said about not planning to PR during my half marathon? Well, crazy things happened and my legs went zipping right along and before I knew it, a PR was met!

Okay, so back to the beginning. I woke up at 6:30am, had my peanut butter and jelly topped english muffin and some tea, slathered on the body glide and headed out!

The race started at 8 am so I was downtown by 7:25 am and manfriend (who had to leave to volunteer at a bike race at 9:30) parked and rode his bike to meet me at the start. Soon enough, I also got a text from my mom who made the 45 min drive south to watch me race! I did a 3/4 mile warm up and met them at the start.



I made a rookie mistake and left my Garmin charging at work on Friday. But I decided that since I was taking this race easy, I wouldn't worry about it and just rocked my Nike running watch.

The start line was fun with some great upbeat music. Per the usual, I was without ipod. After the national anthem we were off and running!

I made another uncalculated decision by wearing nearly brand new shoes for this race, which had only seen one three mile run around the neighborhood. But, I wasn't changing brands or styles so I figured I was okay. Plus, the old pair was so shot I figured this had to be the best choice of the two.

Near mile 1 still feeling happy and feeling unsure about my 7:54 first mile. "Too fast?" I wondered for this warm up mile.

There were about 50 guys who ran the race, despite it being a women's half. They were encouraged to dress up like women, but this was the only guy who actually did. Loved his costume!

It was a perfect day for a race! The temps were in the high 40s when I left the house, but probably stayed around the mid to high 50s for the race.

Most of the course follows the river and crosses over it a few times, which makes for a nice view and occasionally some nice cooler breeze from the water.

Manfriend rode the bike around the course and saw me several points between the start and mile 7. It was always a fun surprise.

My mom walked from the start to mile 7 and then back to the finish so it was great to see her along the route and the finish as well!

So after hitting that first fast mile, I thought "okay, let's just go with it and see what happens. I'll ease back if I need to." I was pretty sure I'd hit mile 6 or 7 and feel like "whoa, I've gotta slow it waaay down."

But seriously, every mile just ticked away ranging from 7:45-8 min pace. Thank goodness for the 1/4 mile permanent markers Eugene has on the bike trail. Make it handy for this Garmin-less chic!

Before I knew it, I hit mile 10 and with just three to go, I knew I could hold that pace. The finish line brought us right downtown to the 5th street market that was lined with spectators. I was definitely happy to be done, but felt like I hadn't emptied the tank!

After walking around a bit, taking the post race goodies and chatting with my mom, I headed off for another 2.5 easy miles just for good measure. All in all, 16 miles completed and one happy and surprised runner!

I think it definitely made it easier on me mentally that I wasn't pining for a PR. I didn't even expect it. But soon enough, I realized it was within my grasp so I took it! Has anyone else experienced an unexpected PR?

Final stats:
1:42:40 (beating my old PR by 3+ min)
Age group: 11/267
Overall: 51/1555
Pace: 7:51

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and successful long runs! As soon as my peach cobbler is done cooking, we're off to a bbq with some runners and cyclists.