Losing The Baby Weight
As soon as I got pregnant with Quinn I announced that I would be running the PF Chang's Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix in order to lose all the baby weight and have a way to get back into shape. Little did I realize that I would be in better shape after having Quinn than I was before, but nonetheless, I made the announcement so I had to follow through on it.
On Sunday, January 16th, Brad and I headed out to the starting line under the beautiful blue Arizona sky ready to race. For the first time in my life, I had completed a legitimate training program and was truly trained and ready. It's not that I wouldn't have been physically capable of running 13.1 miles, but rather that in most cases, I overtrain, get injured and am never able to complete my race. This time was different. Every Saturday for the past 6 weeks I was out on the trail (or reluctantly on the treadmill when it was too cold) logging a long run and was hoping to be ready to beat my goal time of 2hours for 13.1 miles. My training runs had all been going really well, with the exception of some runs with multiple potty stops but I'll spare you the details there, and I was confident I'd be at least able to complete the distance. My pace for my long runs was always between 9:30 and 10:00 miles so honestly, I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold the 9:00 pace I was hoping for for the entire race.
But I digress...my mom and Joy dropped us off near the starting line and took Quinn with them back to hang out until we'd be closer to the finish line. Brad and I ran, never out of breath, listening to the 16 bands (some better than others), hearing the swish of the 40,000 feet running alongside us, and enjoying the gorgeous weather (by race end, it was 74 degrees...HEAVEN!). We hit mile marker 12 and I still had a lot of juice left so off we went at an 8:20 pace crossing the finish line with a time of 1:57:17! We did it! We beat my 2 hour goal and had an average pace of 8:57. I can only imagine how much faster the run would have been if I would have done some speed work over the course of my training. Nonetheless, I was so proud of myself. Not only had I beat my goal time, but I had lost my baby weight (oky...well before the training started for this race), and I had completed an actual training program.
Up next...Bentonville Half Marathon on April 2nd. I'm thinking there will be some more speed workouts before this race. Hopefully my time will be even better than it was in Phoenix.
On Sunday, January 16th, Brad and I headed out to the starting line under the beautiful blue Arizona sky ready to race. For the first time in my life, I had completed a legitimate training program and was truly trained and ready. It's not that I wouldn't have been physically capable of running 13.1 miles, but rather that in most cases, I overtrain, get injured and am never able to complete my race. This time was different. Every Saturday for the past 6 weeks I was out on the trail (or reluctantly on the treadmill when it was too cold) logging a long run and was hoping to be ready to beat my goal time of 2hours for 13.1 miles. My training runs had all been going really well, with the exception of some runs with multiple potty stops but I'll spare you the details there, and I was confident I'd be at least able to complete the distance. My pace for my long runs was always between 9:30 and 10:00 miles so honestly, I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold the 9:00 pace I was hoping for for the entire race.
But I digress...my mom and Joy dropped us off near the starting line and took Quinn with them back to hang out until we'd be closer to the finish line. Brad and I ran, never out of breath, listening to the 16 bands (some better than others), hearing the swish of the 40,000 feet running alongside us, and enjoying the gorgeous weather (by race end, it was 74 degrees...HEAVEN!). We hit mile marker 12 and I still had a lot of juice left so off we went at an 8:20 pace crossing the finish line with a time of 1:57:17! We did it! We beat my 2 hour goal and had an average pace of 8:57. I can only imagine how much faster the run would have been if I would have done some speed work over the course of my training. Nonetheless, I was so proud of myself. Not only had I beat my goal time, but I had lost my baby weight (oky...well before the training started for this race), and I had completed an actual training program.
Up next...Bentonville Half Marathon on April 2nd. I'm thinking there will be some more speed workouts before this race. Hopefully my time will be even better than it was in Phoenix.
Amped and Ready to Go!
Still smiling after 13.1 miles!
posted by Maria Pope @ 3:48 PM
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