I think that I have amnesia. I decided to pull a crazy akin to one that I pulled about a year ago. I woke up July 3rd pretty early. I had registered for a 5K in Salt Lake that was at the Capitol. I ended up getting there pretty early (thanks insomnia.) While I was waiting there were lots of people who were getting ready to load up for a Half Marathon. So, crazy me got sick of waiting around. I decided on a whim (for the second time) to run the Half Marathon instead. So I went over to the desk paid another twenty bucks and hopped on the bus for The Freedom Half Marathon. This is the second Half I have done without training. Granted I do go to the gym most every day, but most all of it is cross training. The last run I had done prior to this was a 5K the weekend before (Time - 27:02 my best ever! Wahoo!) Before that.....it has been since September since I ran a race. 
Most of the time I just go to spinning and do Body Combat and group gym classes. Most frequently I pop on an elliptical and read the newspaper and listen to my Pandora. At any rate, I finished the race. My time was 2 hours 14 minutes and 3 seconds. My last half was 2 hours 10 minutes. I got the lovely experience of contracting runner's diarrhea along the way. It is so fun to run in more ways than one :) I spent 4 and a half minutes in a cute little porta potty. Multiple people were banging on the door telling me to hurry up, and finally they gave up and ran two miles to the next one. Yeah, that part was not fun. So if you subtract my bathroom time, I actually ran this race 30 seconds faster. Technically - it was slower. I really don't care about the time, though. I had a great time being outside listening to the radio and relishing that runner's high. It was downhill for 6 miles (FUN!) It went through Emmigration Canyon, This is the Place Park, The Avenues, Red Butte Garden, and ended up at the Capitol. What I was not prepared for was all of the miles of trail running. LOTS of big steep uphills more like hiking than running. I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one who had to walk up a lot of the steep parts. I finished neck and neck at the end with a girl I sat in front of on the bus ride up. That was kind of fun to actually race someone to the finish line - we had been playing tag for the last 6 some miles (after my potty stop.) So the verdict? Fun! My calves hurt pretty bad for two or three days, but I recovered sooooo much better this time. I also got to the end and felt energized not dead this time. Don't know for sure what made the difference, but this race went a lot smoother and felt a lot easier to me. Will I do it again? Maybe.... who knows. I still don't think I will ever train for one of these. It is a fun experience to run for a long time every now and again, but I'm not sure you could convince me to train and do it for months on end in preparation. I enjoy a good 13.1 mile run every year or so, but I don't think I'd like one every month or so. I think I might just stick to spur of the moment half marathon madness for now!
Most of the time I just go to spinning and do Body Combat and group gym classes. Most frequently I pop on an elliptical and read the newspaper and listen to my Pandora. At any rate, I finished the race. My time was 2 hours 14 minutes and 3 seconds. My last half was 2 hours 10 minutes. I got the lovely experience of contracting runner's diarrhea along the way. It is so fun to run in more ways than one :) I spent 4 and a half minutes in a cute little porta potty. Multiple people were banging on the door telling me to hurry up, and finally they gave up and ran two miles to the next one. Yeah, that part was not fun. So if you subtract my bathroom time, I actually ran this race 30 seconds faster. Technically - it was slower. I really don't care about the time, though. I had a great time being outside listening to the radio and relishing that runner's high. It was downhill for 6 miles (FUN!) It went through Emmigration Canyon, This is the Place Park, The Avenues, Red Butte Garden, and ended up at the Capitol. What I was not prepared for was all of the miles of trail running. LOTS of big steep uphills more like hiking than running. I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one who had to walk up a lot of the steep parts. I finished neck and neck at the end with a girl I sat in front of on the bus ride up. That was kind of fun to actually race someone to the finish line - we had been playing tag for the last 6 some miles (after my potty stop.) So the verdict? Fun! My calves hurt pretty bad for two or three days, but I recovered sooooo much better this time. I also got to the end and felt energized not dead this time. Don't know for sure what made the difference, but this race went a lot smoother and felt a lot easier to me. Will I do it again? Maybe.... who knows. I still don't think I will ever train for one of these. It is a fun experience to run for a long time every now and again, but I'm not sure you could convince me to train and do it for months on end in preparation. I enjoy a good 13.1 mile run every year or so, but I don't think I'd like one every month or so. I think I might just stick to spur of the moment half marathon madness for now! 
2 comments:
Debby, you ARE crazy. But good for you!! Way to go!
Do you know how jealous I am that you CAN run one without training? And do it faster than I did with months of training? But good for you. I can only imagine how fun it would be to have 6 miles of downhill.
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