Half way there, almost

This morning I got up at 4:15, left at 4:50, and drove an hour to lovely Farmington for my first half marathon of the year.

The weather was decent. Warm but not hot. Humid, but the clouds kept the sun off me. My goal was to do the 8:00 minutes per mile pace that I need in my October marathon to qualify for Boston. My expectation was that having not run 13 yet, it was unlikely.

I ended up running 1:47:18 (versus a goal of 1:45:00). I have 11 decent miles and two bad ones. Mile 10 was uphill and upwind and hit me just as I was wearing out. Mile 12 just stunk for no apparent reason other than being pooped. The bad news is at the end of 13, I just couldn't imagine running much further.

All in all, I am satisfied with my improvement, but this serves as a swift kick in the butt for my training. It has been too easy lately to blow off a run for one excuse or another, or another, or another. I have twelve weeks left before the St George marathon, and I lose the last 2 or 3 because you start dropping miles before the event. That leaves me with about two months to go from 13 miles at 8:12's to 26 at 8:00's. Ouch!