Unplugged Half Marathon Recap

I talked about my running goals earlier and I feel like I am hitting them. That's the great thing about writing down achievable goals. You can go back and look and be like, "damn, I got it done!" such a good confidence boost. With a April Half Marathon looming I knew I had to run this winter and I had to get on track to some decent training not just going out for jogs a few days a week. I told all of you, got an awesome training plan in place (thanks Mollie!), and stuck to it.

It was a rough winter for the family with the kids getting sick more times that I want to remember and it being one of the coldest and longest on record but running was my outlet. I told Torrey many times it seemed like some days running was my easiest part of my day. Once I got going for my run I couldn't do anything else, I didn't have to take care of anyone else, I just had to run. I could do that. It would make a day where I wanted to pull my hair out by the time Torrey got home and I was a grumpy mess and turn it into a great upbeat family night after I got back and had an attitude adjustment. The endorphin release is no joke! That being said I still don't feel like I have been able to fully hit my training so I am excited to get back into it after an easy recovery week this week.

Now the Half Marathon recap...

The race is called Unplugged because it is low key. We all just gather in a field in Colchester then start and run down the Burlington Bike path and end at Switchback brewing. It is timed and has chips on the bibs and food at the end and three water stops but that's about it. That makes it so good, and so chill. I highly recommend it!

Torrey dropped me off at the start a little early because he had to take Wes to swim class so I wore a throw away hoodie layer (I hope they picked that up, I might have to go check if its still in the park, ha!) and brought a blue solo cup of water I could chuck later. I kind of looked like I just rolled out of a college party except not. I changed my bib to my leg so I could decide on tshirt or longsleeve later in the race, I ended up wearing my favorite longsleeve the whole time.

 So I had about 45 min to kill in the 40 degree cold with a bunch of other mostly underdressed folks. After chatting with a few people I knew and going to the bathroom like 3 times I went for a little 5 min jog and some drills to warm up.  I didn't want to run a ton because it was a half marathon and I wasn't super trained. So drills were just the ticket, if you dont know what they are check out this video. They keep you warm and make your legs feel spunky without making you tired. I did them relaxed and after a brief warmup it wasn't the time to go all out and pull something.

The gun went off at 9, or was it a horn, or some guy just yelling "go", I don't remember. I was with a friend who was doing his first half marathon (Way to crush it Michael!) so it was nice to start with a familiar face. We did the first 3-4 miles in neighborhoods before getting on the bikepath and heading to Burlington. I had to seriously CHECK myself many times to keep the pace controlled. I wore my Garmin watch and checked my pace every half mile or so. I wanted to negative split the race and go out very conservative. I am about a min. per mile slower than I want to be eventually so its hard to realize that and embrace it, but I did. No faster than 8:15 those first 4 and I did 8:17, 8:14, 8:15, 8:10. Pretty good! I felt great and like I was pretty much jogging but that was okay. It was a great race to test out running neg. splits and I wanted to stick to the plan. People passed me but I knew I would get them later, suckers.

At the 5 mile water stop I took half of a Hammer Gel. I brought two and am glad I did. One Hammer and one Honey Stinger. I liked the Honey Stinger better. This is new for me. When I used to run marathons it took a while to learn to start eating and drinking during long runs, I was kind of dumb and young. But now I know the feeling of getting depleted and I am breastfeeding Lily so it hits me HARD and knew I needed to be smart.

It felt so easy and controlled I took this time to just relax and make a plan for the race. I decided at mile 6 I could start dropping the pace 5 seconds every mile. I didn't want to just get to the half and then blast it faster, that could lead to a very bad last few miles. So I went 8:13, 8:12, 8:06, 8:02 for the next 4.

By mile 8/9 I took the rest of the Hammer Gel and had another water stop and was feeling so great! This part of the race goes right near our house and a part of the bike path I run all the time so I was just loving it. I found people going nice steady paces and went on and off with them but I also was starting to pick it up and pass people that went out too fast. It was really fun to knock it down in a controlled way, like a game. The next few miles were 7:51 and 7:55. I took one more water, oh and I walked through the water stops, something I have never done before. I drank so much more water that way and easily got back in pace after, I am so doing that from now on. I also took one half of my Honey stinger gel right when the camera lady was taking pictures, I will have to see how that turns out, beauty shot I am sure.

Well then mile 11 and 12 hit and we got to this stretch where it was just us and the cold Lake Champlain. THE WIND, oh the damn WIND. With that and a big uphill at mile 12+ the last few miles were the hardest environment wise. But I pushed through and ran 8:01 and 8:05. I was feeling it now and giving it some good hard energy so not being able to get back under 8 kind of pissed me off. But I was still passing some folks and working on and off with a few others that kept me motivated.

The last mile was 7:43 and my watch had the race long at 13.21 with a time of 1:46.30.

I got my goal of going under 1:50 and I ran a smart race. I have to say I am happy but hungry for more. And so hungry to see how much faster I can go in September at my goal half for the year. To PR I have to run under 1:35. Yep, 11 min faster. But I would be pretty happy to just go under 1:40 and think I can do that. Easy week of running this week then I am making a vow to stick to my running plan better now that spring is finally here!

What are your upcoming races and goals?? Lets keep eachother accountable okay?

Lily liked smacking my crunchy bib number, shes so into textures and sounds right now. I love all the baby development stages!

A few race photos: