Shamrock'n Half Marathon

I finished! I did it again, 13.1 miles! As I'm writing this, my legs are sore but I'm happy. All my training made me succeed in another great run.

Funny thing, on my Nike Running App, my distance and time were different than what is on the course. Here are my 2 results from Sunday.



Nike Plus:

Bib Tracker:

Compared to my very first 1/2 marathon time, I was faster by 2 mins, not including the milliseconds. My average pace went from 9:47 to 9:24, which is great. 

Though to be totally honest, I was hoping for a 2hr finish, but I'm okay with my time. 

I wasn't expecting it to be so hot and sunny during the end of the race. The heat really made me feel more heavy toward my last 3 miles and gave me another thing to fight against other than my knees. Seeing my family members really helped.

Also what was different I had some fuel with me. During my run I used mandarin oranges and Probar Bolt energy chews.

Photo taken from theprobar.com

I felt with the energy chews, my stomach also needed something to help stay happy and the oranges help me have a variety to have during my run and when passing up heavy traffic at the aid stations, the oranges give just enough to wet my whistle. 

Want to check out the chews,  click here

Looking at my speed on my app, I was still moving and that made me feel accomplished. Passing people near the end who were walking and I was still pushing strong till my last sprint to the finish. That is a great feeling.

11 mile training run- photo credit: punksphotography

Being apart of the Fleet Feet training group, we had our own section up in the Saloon Club at Raley Field, which meant no long lines for the celebratory beer and post race snacks. Also all racers got a ticket to a River Cats game. This was a very well organized event and being apart of a training group, really made everything stress free.

First training day-  photo credit: punksphotography

So if my 3rd half ends up being between 2hrs-2hrs 07 mins, I can deal. However I now have 2 runs to compare and apply what worked and what didn't during my training for my 3rd half in June :D 

**Waiting for more pictures from training and race days... Keep you posted :)

Thanks for reading!