My Name Is Christine and I'm a Race-a-holic

I was posting over at RunnersWorld.com and realized I've signed up for half marathons for 3 straight weekends.

Sunday, January 18 - Rock 'n' Roll Arizona
Sunday, January 25 - Carlsbad Half-Marathon
Sunday, February 1 - Surf City

I need to get into some sort of 12-step program for half marathon addicts. Of course, if I ran 12 steps I'd want a finishers medal at the end.

Race Notes: Carlsbad Half Marathon

Not a bad day, but not the race I was hoping to have. My goal was to break 3 hours, which for a walker is pretty darn good. Our training has been spotty for the last few weeks - we haven't really been doing long mileage. Other than last week's 10 mile training, I haven't done a training longer than 5 miles since the Pasadena event in December. To break 3 hours, I needed to maintain a pace of 13:43. That was certainly optimistic, but not unrealistic.

I think my race finish was about 3:05. Not horrible, but not what I wanted. I was nearly 25 seconds per mile over my target pace. Grrr.

However, it's good to remember that less the 8 months ago I had never done an event longer than 10K. That's a scant 6.2 miles, and to be honest my 5K and 10K days were long, long ago. To have come from where I was a year ago and to be able to crank out a half marathon with minimal training is quite an accomplishment.

Race Notes:

• Please, please, please learn to hydrate better the day before events. I was thirsty all day yesterday.
• Parking always takes forever at these events. Steve and I barely got there in time to go to the bathroom and queue for the start. We didn't really get to stretch. I did some high steps and some leg circles as we walked toward that start. That was not really enough stretching.
• Oatmeal is the perfect pre-event meal, particularly my beloved Coach's Oats.
• Until the final mile, never go faster than my optimal race pace. I've heard this a bunch of times. On Friday, I listened to a talk given by one of the "pace team" leaders and it really sunk in for me. Essentially for every minute you go faster than your optimal pace, your body is going to take that minute back and 3 more as a surtax later in the race.
• If I want to break 3 hours, I need to lose weight. Every extra pound forces me to work harder or go slower.
• Get a decent night of sleep. Going to bed at midnight and waking at 5:30 is no way to go into a race.