I ran this race last year. It was the second race I had ever run. At this point last year I had only been running for about a month, so running a hilly 4 mile course was a little intimidating. After being at it for a year I had been anxiously awaiting a good measuring stick for my progress. This race was going to be it. It was the exact same course, on the exact same day, and when we started this morning the conditions were pretty much identical to what they were last year. This was going to be a true barometer of my progress and I was anxious to see how far I have come.
Last year I ran the course in 50 minutes and 34 seconds. That is averaging over a 12.5 minute mile. It was hilly, challenging, and I even had to walk at one point last year. But this year was different. This year my goal was to run it in 35 minutes. I have been trying to work on my speed lately, so to be able to shave 15 minutes off my total time from last year was a huge goal of mine and one I was gunning for.
I gotta say it was a great race, and I felt great the whole time. There was one point around mile 3 where I didn't know if I was going to be able to hold the pace and make it under 35 minutes but I powered through and crossed the finish line at an official time of 33 minutes 25 seconds. That is an 8 minute 21 second/mile pace and over 4 minutes a mile faster than what I ran it last year.
I know I am never going to be about to hold that pace when I run the Houston Marathon, but being able to run the shorter distances that fast should give me a good base to be able to hold a sub 10 minute mile pace. I am not sure if I will be able to, but I still have 6 months to try and get my body worked up to that point.
Even though I know I have a lot of work to do in the next six months, its definitely been fun to be able to take a minute and look back and see exactly how far I have come in the last year!
Happy Independence Day everyone!!
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