Saturday, August 29, 2009

Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon

Herro everyone!

I haven't posted for awhile, life has been very crazy needless to say. I did find some time, however, to fit in a half marathon to gauge how the marathon in two weeks is going to go. Thanks to Natalie Steadman, who was unable to run the TOU 1/2 Marathon today due to an injury, let me have her spot in the race. And I'm VERY glad she let me have it!!

I was unsure of how today was going to go, but chose to stay optimistic anyway. And even I surprised myself! Last year I ran it with Aubrey and our finishing time was around 2 hrs 49 minutes...not great, but we finished. Then I had the chance to visit Darcey in Arizona this last year to do the P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon with a finishing time of 2 hrs 45 min. Well, today I ran and ran and ran. I ran until mile 8, when blisters on the insides of both feet started to appear...and man, could I feel them! I didn't prepare myself as well as I should have, so I didn't use precautionary Body Glide on my feet like normal, an anti-chaffing product made for runners and this very problem. I had to make it to mile 9 before getting any help, however, so I kept running as much as I could. I finally made it and put some vaseline on my feet - which helped, but the blisters were already there and made the next four miles painful (a good lesson to learn before running the marathon!) I thought earlier in the race that I was going to be able to run the whole 13.1 miles as I was feeling really good, and I even had a faster than normal pace going, but after the first vaseline stop I had to stop again and stop to walk when it got to be too much. Oh well. I did improve my time, finishing in 2 hrs and 28 min this time, and my goal was to do it under 2:30:00 - so I'm satisfied. :) Maybe the next half I can cut down 15-30 minutes...???

Two weeks from now I will (hopefully) have completed marathon number five in Indiana. I'm excited and nervous as always, but look forward to the experience nonetheless. :)

3 comments:

noremac40 said...

Way to go Sis! Keep training well and remember: "you can only cheat yourself" so don't cheat your feet and then you won't be cheating your feat! Oh, and never be satisified--always hunger to be better and much improved, learning from the past, then leaving it there as you look into the future. Keep on keeping on, you're in my thoughts and prayers! Wove You!

Carrie said...

Thanks big brudder! I liked what you said so much that i posted it to my facebook and myspace status updates! :) Yes, quoted by you of course.

Darcey said...

OWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!! I can't imagine running more than a few yards with bad blisters! The closest I've gotten to that is walking around campus with a blister or two on my heel from stylish/uncomfortable shoes and stuck with them until I get home. Good job running honey!