This week I consciously only ran 2 runs - 5 miles on Monday and 10 miles on Wednesday. I wanted to have fresh legs and be well-rested for Saturday's Dam to Dam with Rachael.
My shins have still been bothering me, but have also been working on some speed. Wednesday's run began at 4:00 AM! My running partners wanted to run and be back before their spouses had to leave for work. We started with J for 6 miles. The 2-block run to her house was a good warm-up. It was just what I needed to get going. We went rather fast. I seem to have an untapped energy from her. It's great running with her! The miles fly by and the time is short. We met up with another friend and finished 4 miles. It was a FAST run. Love it!
I have not been looking forward to D2D this year. I don't know why, just not excited about it. Anxiety has been setting in for the marathon as well. Can I do it? Will I have a bad running day? Will I be trained enough? Can I keep going the whole time? So much worry.
So, Friday came and I took Rachael to packet pick up. We had a good time and it was just the excitement we needed to get fired up for the run! We were really hoping to break 2 hrs, or at a bare minimum, the 2:06 time from last year. J ended up not being able to run due to tendonitis in her knee. Dang! We'll have to do this ourselves. I also forgot my watch so we won't really know our pace. Double dang!
We lined up at the 9:30 pace. Oh man, there were tons of people there that really should have been behind the 10:00 min pace. I think we passed about 200 people in the first couple miles. I don't think Rachael was having a good run as she wasn't her usual chatty self. She wouldn't stop and wouldn't slow down, however, so we kept going. About mile 5 we caught up to Vardotrichic and hubby. It was nice to see them and meet some friends who will also be running at Grandma's in a couple weeks. We kept trucking along hoping to beat the 2 hour mark. Rachael had to stop so we walked a bit at mile 6. The half-way clock marked 1:02 so I knew a PR was in jeopardy. That's ok. By mile 7 she was back at it and got her second wind so we took off again. She was really going strong and pulling me along at times. At mile 12 water stop I felt "stuck" like I couldn't run anymore. I told myself, just 1/2 mile more! I took off running and we were going like crazy. When we got to the finish line, I continuously scanned the sidelines for my family, but couldn't find them. I looked at the clock as we finished - 2:01!! YEAH. I never thought we would have ever come that close. I really thought our official time would have been 2:10-2:15.
In the end, I dropped 39 seconds off my mile pace and 9 minutes off my time! I am sooo very excited, especially knowing how much we walked.
854 10 JrW Rachael Huegerich, 12* 58:47 1:57:35 9:28
855 82 W40 Kimberly Huegerich, 41* 58:47 1:57:35 9:28
Here's a link to Bill's blog that has some of the pictures.
The official pictures came in and I felt like I looked much better in these photos than in the Drake photos. There might be hope for me after all!
Weekly training mileage: 27 miles
WOW factor: priceless
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