The Parkway Has Been "Rocked"

Hello! So the last time we spoke I was kind of like this...

I was feeling excited, terrified, confident, unsure, and every other contradictory emotion you can think of.

On Saturday I ran THE race...the race that left me feeling disappointed one year ago...the race that I have spent the last 12 weeks working harder than I have ever worked before...and the race that I had set a HUGE goal for.

Over the last year I have run 7 half-marathons. Each one very different...some faster than others...some much slower than others...but this race...my first half-marathon has always been the most important to me. Last year I didn't run as well as I expected...and I was left feeling kind of unfulfilled. And ever since crossing that finish line last year I knew that 2015's Rock the Parkway half would be my redemption race.

So this year when I signed up to run it again, I decided that not only was I going to redeem myself (and the race) but I wanted to set a pretty big goal. I wanted to run 9 minutes faster than I had the year before. I am not sure what significance 1:45 has...except that it is a nice round number (and a big PR)

So for the last 12 weeks I have been focusing on and working toward one thing...a 1:45 half-marathon...The first 11 weeks I felt SO confident. I busted my butt 6 days a week and worked harder than I ever have in my life. I felt good...correction, I felt great....However, in the week leading up to the race, thanks in part to the taper, I had begun to doubt myself. I questioned whether or not I could run 13.1 miles at an 8:01 mile pace...I kept wondering if I could have done more, did I over-train, under-train...what if I didn't reach my goal, what if the race sucked as much as it did last year...then what?

Turns out...I didn't have to worry about the "then what?" 

I've been trying for 3 days to come up with the perfect words to describe this race, and I just can't. So all I am going to say is that I am beyond ecstatic and have taken up permanent residency on Cloud 9 ;)

I "rocked" that parkway and was left feeling satisfied. All of those negative feelings from the year before were forgotten!

While meeting/beating my goal time was amazing...the very best part was that I felt great during the race. Going into it I feared that the last few miles would be painful (like they were last year) but honestly, all 13.1 miles felt pretty awesome :)




I am most proud of my mile 9-13 splits. Last year the second half of the race was brutal. I had to stop and walk a few times...my average pace for mile 10 and 11 were 10-11 minute miles. This year I managed to run mile 13 at a 7:04 pace!!!! I couldn't believe it...I do owe some of that to the wonderful downhill finish...but it was also reassurance that my hard work had paid off. 

   
On Sunday while looking at Timehop I came across the picture on the left. Do you see the difference in those 2 runners? I sure do...the runner on the left was defeated and feeling down...and the runner on the right...well, she was feeling confident and happy. It's amazing how much can change in a year :)