One more race in the books - 13 miles (not 13.1) in 2:30:51!!

I am done! And not a moment too soon.

What a freaking great race! I had so much fun this year!

Only two more races this year - the Turkey Trot 10k in November. and a 5k in Northville (the Junglebell Run for Arthritis) in December.

I am glad that my A-races are all wrapped up. Now I can have a clean seperation and really take some time off before refocusing on my 2009 goals. That means quite simply that from now until January I will be swimming my hiney off!

So I have mixed feelings about my race today. Please do not get me wrong holding an 11:30 pace for 13 miles is very impressive for me, however I really feel bitter sweet on the race.

My knee is all janked up somehow and I do not know how that happened, but those last 5 miles were a little tough on me! I struggled to maintain my pace while having a throbbing knee naggin gme to stretch out. I really did think that it was due to tigh muscles, now I think that it is shoe related. Oh yeah - this girl needs new shoes... AGAIN!

I am happy as I did really well, but I feel incomplete. I feel unresolved somehow.

Notably - it is just different in that I did not get to cross the finish line. It was odd being done, but not feeling like I finished. Secondly, I did not do the full 13.1 miles (13 miles is close!)

On the major sweet side - I loved being part of a team - so it was definitely worth it! I am not all about finishing times and pace. That has improved and I like seeing what I can pull out of myself - but in the end I had a GREAT experience and would love to do this again.

So why the 13 miles, and not 13.1? The knee. I ended up going past my last relay stop but did NOT go all the way to the half marathon split mat. If I had turned around from the relay exchange, I would have added an additional 1/2 mile to the 13.1 - and the 13 mile mark was just past the relay exchange, so I opted to just run with Stacy as far as my bum knee would allow. And that would be to 13 miles. I barely made it that far. My knee was throbbing and there really does come a point when you have to know when to call it. For me that was at mile 13. I was d-o-n-e done. I had ran my race - I had came very clos to what I wanted to accomplish. It was time for me to switch to cheerleader mode and recover.

So here are the numbers, all according to my watch only:

• 1:10:55 - 10K - 2nd best 10K time!
• 12:34 underwater mile (yikes! I slowed down there for sure)
• 1:55:27 - 10 mile mark - 2nd best 10 mile run ever!
• 2:21:18 - 20K mark (? I think)2:26:18 - Relay exchange point
• 2:30:51 - Total time for me, 5:18:49 total team time! Woo Hoo go Conti Retreads!
  

Not too shabby! Especially compared to last year! I felt a lot stronger, and 12 miles snuck up on me like none other. This course was different than two years ago when I last was on it and from what I saw I was not too impressed with the finishing mile or so.

All in all, this is still very much one of my favorite races to do, I have officially kicked 2:35's arse and am on a mission to go... sub 2:30. I know that I can do it! But where will I do it?

The Martian Half Marathon 2009 of course!