13.1

This Labor Day weekend was pretty tame until today. Today, inspired by Murakami's "What I Talk about When I Talk about Running" and the general need to run for cyclocross, I ran a half marathon, which I've maybe, possibly mentioned in this blog. I had done about 1.5 months of training, maybe, and my biggest run was an 11-miler. I was really shooting for under 2 hours, but I thought that was maybe a bit optimistic.
Well, today came and went, and I ran the half in 1:55:34, which certainly hit my goal. Once I realized I could do it at about mile 5, I was shooting for 9-minute miles. I also hit that with an average of 8:49-minute miles. Awesome. I do have to say that the last 2-3 miles were pretty excruciating, though getting to 10 wasn't really a problem at all.
Anyway, I think I could see myself doing one or two of these a year. But I have absolutely no interest in an actual marathon (or in triathlons, which people always ask me that). I do enjoy running, but bike racing is definitely my main interest.
Here are some pre- and post-race pictures that Chris took (by the way, he's pretty awesome in that he came out with me, ran errands while I ran, and generally kept me calm before the race):

Before the race


Lined up and pretending to be a highlighter


Somewhere in that mob is a Rachel


Finished! It rained while we were racing; I swear, it's not all sweat.

Anyway, I did it, and it was pretty fun (until mile 11). No injuries, though my legs are super sore. I almost couldn't get out of the car once we got home because I was so stiff. But it's been getting better all day, though I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow. And now back to bike racing.