Where's the Beach?

Half Marathon number 10 is in the books with a shiny new PR! Saturday I ran the CASA Half Marathon . This was the 2nd time running this particular race. It's a smaller race, but for a great cause as it supports the CASA Women's Shelter. It's still a new race, and is continuing to grow, and for good reason. It's truly a flat and fast course. I earned a PR last year at the race actually. Because of my marathon training, I initially wasn't sure if I would go into this as a race or as a training run. The day of, I knew I was racing 100%. It was in the mid- to upper-40s at the start with overcast skies, but very little wind. My plan was to just go with how I was feeling, find a pace and try to sustain it for as long as possible. I know many runners start out slower and increase their pace. I tend to be pretty consistent with my splits throughout. I did a super easy 1 mile run to warm up before heading to the start. I wanted up closer to the front, but not the very ...

If you recall, I posted last Thursday about not feeling truly prepared for this half marathon. We had been having very cold temps that seemed to be negatively impacting my running. My last training week was slow and felt very difficult overall. Luckily, the temperatures for the CASA Half Marathon had started to go up. Race start was 39 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of 36. The problem was that it was heavy fog and the winds were starting to kick up. This means damp and raw basically. The CASA Half Marathon is a small race. It's one I had not done before. I decided to sign up for it on the tail end of the PR high from the Soaring Wings Half . Sometimes I think there should be a law that states you must wait x number of weeks after one race before signing up for another. Seriously, runner's amnesia can bite you in the butt. But, I signed up for it. I was going to run it. It was a flat course, so I was kind of looking forward to that for a change. But, I ...

I wanted to write some fantastic, funny, witty race recap. I always enjoy those. Apparently I don't pay enough attention to the details during my races though. So, here's my race recap from the Soaring Wings Half Marathon as best as I can tell it. Saturday morning started off super early, dark, and cold. We woke up around 5:30. I wanted plenty of time to wake up, get breakfast down, and allow for any delays. Let's just say Jason can be hard to get out the door sometimes. After lots of debating, I ended up wearing shorts and a long-sleeved top and throw away gloves. It was about 40 degrees out, dry, little wind. I should have gone with short sleeves, but I just couldn't convince myself. At least I was able to push my sleeve up during the race. I also ditched my water bottle for the first time. I feared this would be my undoing for my time goal. PB & Bananas for the win The race was about 30 minutes away. Not a horrible drive, but just enough to make me...

Saturday morning I started waking up a little after 5 am. We needed to be up around 5:30 ish to start getting ready for the race. I did stay in bed until the alarm though, just letting myself slowly wake up. I got up and got on my running outfit. I spent an entire week fretting about what to wear. It was going to be about 33 degrees at the start (sunny thank goodness), but not much of a warmup during the race. I always get so hot when I run and had to keep that in mind. I ended up going with a tank with my arm sleeves and knee-length capris. I also wore some cheapo throw-away gloves so that my hands weren't frozen solid at the start like they were last year. I tossed them around mile, 4 but there were some winds that came up that often made me regret that choice to toss them. I have some spirulina pills that I have been taking for early morning runs that really seem to make me alert. I had never tried anything like that until I had the opportunity to review the EnergyBits. I ...