L. Neil ThrussellOn Oct 1, 2016 I will be running my second 1/2 marathon race
.
Just an FYI for you, a half marathon is 21.1 km or 13 miles!
On Sept 11, 2016 I successfully ran in in my first ever 1/2 marathon race. It was slower than I trained for. Due to a comedy of errors on my part – self inflicted entirely. I happily accept my time of 2:18:08.
Note: The race winner did it in 1:24:30
Backstory – The race was in Canmore and the morning of the race we were driving to Canmore I discovered to my horror that I forgot, my water and food (fuel) for the race. During a long distance race you need to eat to give your body the necessary energy it needs to complete the race as well as water to re-hydrate.
The race had three water stations so I was okay with using the watering stations to re-hydrate. Food was the big issue for me, I had a couple protein bars in my running bag so I thought I was still okay. In hindsight it would have been better to buy a couple chocolate bars with nuts. Oh well! Live and learn.
October 1 I will be running in the Harvest Half Marathon in South West Calgary.
For Oct 1, I have created a check list:
- Water Bottle Belt
- Water with electrolyte drink
- Gel packs (fuel)
- Cellphone (Contains my running timer)
- Hanky to wipe sweat of brow
- Running Shoes
- Running shorts
- Running shirt
- Socks
- Running pants – in case of cold weather
- Running coat- in case of cold weather
After race gear:
- running shoes
- socks
- shirt
- shorts or pants
- water
- snack
So even though I stared the race on September 11th not under the most ideal conditions. I persevered and I completed the race. It felt pretty darn good to do. I was actually quiet emotional. I was extremely proud of my accomplishment. As this was not an overnight success, most weeks I was running a minimum of three nights a week and I was riding my bike to provide my muscles with some cross training. To build up my cardio training.
When I started training in April for the race in September, I had two goals:
- To finish the race.
- Stay injury free.
I was extremely proud and exceptionally happy, because I stayed injury free throughout my entire training and I completed the race.
My three goals for the October 1 race are:
- Finish the race
- Stay injury free
- Beat my September time , even if it is only by 1 minute. My goal it to beat my time!
