You all know the answer to that due to the picture posted above. I had a good run, I went out to fast as usual and found the last 3 miles of the race very hard. When will I learn? I started to get tired about half way through and then Stephanie pulled up beside me. I told Stephanie she showed up just in time, I was starting to get tired. She was wonderful, she stuck with me the rest of the race. Every time I would start to slow down she would tell me, "pick it up just a bit, relax." and that was all I needed. I would not have done so well if it were not for her pushing me at the end.
So let me answer the question I know you are wondering. Why didn't Stephanie get 2nd place if she was right there with me. 2 reasons: first, she is in a different age group than I am she is 24 years old (she took first in her age group), and second at the last bit she dropped back to give encouraging words to Karen who was right behind me (she ran the 20 mile race and had been running one hour longer than I had).
The heck of it is Stephanie would have finished at least 5 minutes faster than me if she had decided to run her own race. Instead she choose stick with me and help me get a personal record (PR). Thank you Stephanie! I would not have done so well without your help.
I know you are all dying to know who took first in my age group, that would be none other than Debbles. She ran it in 1:50 and change, she was taking it easy as she has marathon to run in Paris on April 9th. This was a taper run for her, she should be cutting her mileage down at this point in her training and begin resting her body for her race. You can check out the race results here if you are interested.
Okay, I will bore you with only a little more running information and then I will move on. I ran this last year, it was my first 1/2 marathon. I ran in it in 2:08 and change (I don't remember how many seconds), my second was the 1/2 in Kewlona last year which I ran in 2:02:18 (9:20 minute mile) and this was my third at 1:56:10. (8:57 minute mile) In one year I took 12 minutes off my time. I did not hit my goal of 1:55:00 (8:47 minute mile) but I am damn happy with my results and my improvement. I told Paul, "I am kind of glad I did not hit my goal yet this season, because then I would have to set a new one, and I don't know if I can go any faster!" We had a good laugh about that.
My dream is a 1:45:00 one day. I don't know if I even have that in me or not, so it is still a dream, not a goal. Lets just see where the next few years take me in my running. There is a point where you plateau and you need to happy with where you are at. As long as I stay under 2 hours I am happy with my times. If I continue to improve, bonus. If I plateau out at 1:55:00, I would be okay with that as long as I can maintain and not get slower, I am not ready to slow down yet.
Ah, one more running tid bit for you. There is a Masters Runner (60-64 age group) here in Kamloops, his name is Jack Miller. He is an amazing runner and he is looking to break 5 or 6 Canadian masters records this year. Well he broke his first with yesterdays 20 miler with a 2:08:10 that is a 6:25 minute mile. Just to put it in perspective for you he is 26 years older than I am and he ran 5.89 miles further than I did in exactly 12 minutes longer than it took me to complete my race. Phenomenal. There may be hope for me yet!
As you know if you looked at the photos, Paul and I are going to go see CATS! tonight. I am excited, I have always wanted to see it. I will let you know how it was in my next post. Right now I think it is time to end my knitting dry spell.
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