Day 161 -- A Half Marathon

I ran my first unofficial half-marathon today. No crowds, no medal, no t-shirt. Just me running around until my little machine said 13.1 miles. That will probably be the longest run that I have for a while. School starts up next week, and I probably won't have time for runs quite that long any more.

I should admit one little thing. Up until today, when I've gone on long runs, I've stopped the clock when I pause to walk and rehydrate. Today, I let it run. I figure that that will better reflect what's going to actually happen in a half marathon or marathon race. When I pause to walk -- and I will pause to walk -- they aren't going to stop my time, nor are they going to add that much distance to the end of the course. So my official half marathon will be walking and running, and so was today's.

It wasn't a whole lot of walking. The Forerunner allows me to keep track of it, and I only walked for a total of about .4 miles. So I still ran for 12.7, which is longer than my previous long. The knowledge that the clock was running helped keep me from stalling too long.

I ran the half in 1:44, which was a great time. That's actually eight minute miles, including the walking time. So my running pace was even higher. I'm very pleased with that.

The one down side was that meetings started today (about which more anon.) Normally, sitting in one place from nine to five, with only a few breaks, is hard enough for me. After running so long in the morning, it was sheer torture. But it was good torture. Every time I'd get a twinge, I'd grin inwardly, proud of my accomplishment.