Santa Barbara 10miler

I recently ran my longest (and hardest) race to date. On April 18th I ran the Santa Barbara 10miler. (same day as your half marathon) I have never ran that far before, ever. It was not an easy feat! I am so proud of myself for not giving up, because there were definitely moments when I just wanted to walk. I ran the race as hard as I could, with people passing me by left & right I was pretty worried that I was not cut out for this!
But crossing the finish line was the best feeling ever & all I wanted was to sign up for another race!

Running is challenging mentally and physically, and I learned that running for an hour & a half is way more mental for me! I also experienced something new that has never before happened to me while running- my legs hurt! I felt aches in my knees & (of all things) my hips! It started around mile 7 and progressively worsened through the end. My body definitely had never ran that far before & I could feel it. However, I did FOR THE FIRST TIME experience my "runners high" at the end of my last hill at about 6.5 miles- I wasn't tired, I could breathe freely & wasn't doing my "gasping for air" like I had been the past 4miles. I was felt like, "Hey! I could TOTALLY run a half marathon at this rate!"...and then came the aches to rain on my parade. Boo! At mile 9 I was convinced I could never run 4 more miles (for a half marathon) because I literally felt like falling over. But I am not going to get discouraged, and I will work through the pain! I set a goal for 2009 to run a half marathon & I have come this far- I can't give up!

(i envy that you have completed yours already!)

Anyway, here are my stats from the race:

Time Completed:1:30:26

Pace: 9:03

Placement: 22/87 in my age-group which was 19-29

(here I am at the end, I was pretty beat!)
My Half Marathon date has been set! Memorial Day May 25th in Laguna Hills. After reading about this race, I feel like peeing my pants a little bit (not out of excitement mind you). They state in the description "..known for its challenging course full of hills.." LOVELY. My goal was to make 10min miles however with hills lets push that up to 13min miles or not dying. Chris is such a great husband, its his last day before the bar review & his summer of torture & he is going to spend it with me there! I hope to hit the beach afterwards, but Ill have to see how Im feeling!

However..
I love the satisfaction I feel when I run & I love the challenge of it. Its a great work out & is a great way for me to measure my progress. I hope I can keep it up for a while ;)

Also I'd just like to give a shout out to you miss Courtney. You rocked that half marathon in SLC! Especially with not sufficient training due to a HUGE work load (house, moving, jobs, etc.) You killed it!! I dont think I could do a race like that with having so much stress & so much else going on! Way to go lady!