St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon

It was a great morning for a race. Temperatures started out just below freezing but the sky was mostly clear and winds were light. With most of the original race course under water due to flooding on the Raccoon River, the race directors had to scramble late in the week to find a new course route. They did a fantastic job adjusting and the race was top notch.

This was the first of 3 "A" races for me this year and I had 1 goal only, set a new half marathon Personal Record (PR). I knew that I was in great shape coming into the race and adding a flat course with good weather put me in position to reach my goal.

My previous half marathon PR was set at the Drake Relays Road Races in 2017 when I ran a time of 2:16:18. At that time I was actually training for my first full marathon and the PR came as a bit of a surprise. Today I actually crushed that time by shaving off over 8 minutes and finishing in a time of 2:08:14.

Very proud of this time

Modified Race route to avoid flood waters

2nd Goal of the Year Completed!

Looking back over the race, I don't think I could have run any better than I did. I started off the race with the 2:15 pacer (which happened to be another Corteva employee). I did not stick with that pace group very long because my legs were feeling so good. I ended up catching the 2:10 pace group around 3.5 miles and stuck with them for about a mile before moving on. My best mile was mile 5 where I registered 9:28 minutes. I kept my miles fairly consistent between 9:40 and 10:00 until I hit mile 10 with a time of 10:22. I put my foot back on the gas as much as I could for the last 2.1 miles and finished with in a time much better than I had expected.

At the finish line I was able to meet up with my coworker Megan and her husband Dan who had just run his first half marathon (and did an amazing job!) After taking a couple of pictures I headed for my truck to drive home with a big smile on my face. 

Posting for a picture with Dan
after the race

A fitting race for me to run

Finishing a half marathon should be enough to make anyone proud, but this one was a level above for me. Those who are closet to me know that I have been having a difficult 2019 so far. I have been dealing with some difficult things in my personal life as well as at work this year. On top of those things, I suffer from seasonal depression for a couple of months every year from mid-late winter. I'm just wired to be outside (just look at all of my hobbies) but with this winter it was literally impossible to enjoy the outdoors for nearly 2 months and it took a huge toll on me. It was also fitting that the weather took a turn for the better over the last week leading up to the race. 

To put some icing on this cake, after uploading my run to Garmin Express, I quickly realized that I completed a 3rd goal for the year at this race. I ended up breaking my previous 10K PR as well!

I broke my previous 10K PR by nearly 2 minutes

The next race on my calendar is the Drake Relays Road Races 10K on April 20th. Even though I have already completed my goal of setting a new 10K PR, I am hoping to improve on that time by running that race in under 1 hour. 

I do have 3 races on my calendar over the next 3 months, but my next "A" race will be the Door County Half Ironman. I have 1 week of recovery training before beginning my 16 week training program for that race. My 2019 racing season has gotten off to a fast start and I'm hoping to keep that momentum rolling through July. I have a long road ahead, but with good weather in the forecast I should be able to train and prepare in a way that will help me to crush more of my goals this year.