Background - I have been struggling a little bit (ok, a lot) since starting a full time 8-5 job to fit in a decent amount of running/cross-training/anything. It's gotten a bit better lately, but still definitely not any decent or consistent training. I sort of got coralled into doing this race with friends and DBF, and I am glad I did. I didn't actually sign up for it, because a) Green Lake was open to the public so I technically wasn't doing anything wrong and b) I run Green Lake at least once a week, I don't really want to pay $40 to run it.
The race - Was super crowded at the start - around 3,000 people all joined in for a romp around Green Lake, including dogs and several adorable little puppies. I started off a bit too strongly but managed to hold pace fairly decently all the way through. I had decided to treat the race as a tempo run, so I was hoping for somewhere under 34-35 minutes (yes it really bothers me that I have slowed down to the point where THAT is a tempo run. I kind of actually want to go running again today but I am telling myself to save it for tomorrow). The race was half on the inner loop of Green Lake and half on the outer loop, and I managed to stay on the gravel parts the whole way around, which was nice for my knees and other achy old joints. I felt pretty good until around mile 2.5, but managed to stay on pace and have a pretty decent finishing kick. I finished in 32:14, just a few seconds off my pace from the Jingle Bell run. I am ok with it as long as I try not to consider that I ran my first half marathon 10-15 seconds a mile faster than that!! As I said, good motivation to be more consistent and find ways to make running a priority.
DBF and friends and I had an excellent breakfast at Mecca on Queen Anne after the race, and now I am ready for a nap!!
Next up - St. Patrick's Day Dash (~3.4 miles), March 14. Goal - sub 40.
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