Playing Catch-up on blog posts. I did the AFC half marathon in mid-August for the 3rd year in a row. For some reason, for the past two years, I really couldn't get a hold of this race, running it in 1:55 and change in 2006, and 1:56 and change in 2007 (it was really hot out). With the August heat (yes, I've become a wimp in San Diego, and anything over 70 degrees for a run is hot), and the 1.5 mile hill at mile 11.5, I never thought beating 1:50 in this race was possible for me.
I guess Mike's training plan for me has done me well. I finished the race in 1:49 Flat! :) That's an 8:19 pace! Not my half marathon PR, but pretty close. For the weeks leading up to the race, Mike had me running 30+ miles/week. For someone that has averaged 15-20 miles/week for the past couple years, this was quite a jump. I was running Monday night, Tuesday Morning, Tuesday night (track practice), Thursday morning, Friday morning, and Sunday (long run). Pretty crazy! I made it through, and was feeling good leading up to this race. This was my first time doing this race with my Garmin, and it worked well. My goal was to run a 8:30 pace. If I could maintain that, I could easily beat my time from last year. I found that for most of the race, I could easily maintain a 8:15 pace, so I decided to go with it. The climb up A and 6th streets slowed me down a bit, but as soon as I reached the top of the hill, I pushed the pace to the finish. I knew if I pushed it, I'd have no problem beating the 1:50 mark. I was thrilled to see my final time of 1:49. :)
