On Saturday, my husband and I ventured to Boston. I wasn't going to workout on Saturday since I had been burnt out by all the workouts that I had done that past week, but I planned to run about 8 miles up there.
We finally arrive to Boston and get in our cab to make our way towards the hotel. In the cab dive, I started asking the cab driver if there were any good trails or running events going on that week. He answered back saying it was funny that I asked that question since he just found out that there was a half marathon, Run to Remember, the next morning. I decided right then and there.... I was totally going to do it. Now, my husband thought I was insane and it was probably one of the most spontaneous moments, but I had to do it!
So with decision in mind, I had to start preparing for my unplanned half marathon. Now I had many shortcoming that I had to accept:
- The most mileage I've done in the last couple of months was 8 miles at once.
- I had just gotten off of a plane and had been traveling that day leaving me dehydrated and off my game.
- I've never in my life done a hilly course.
- I needed to make sure I didn't overdo it because I have an Olympic tri next weekend.
There are many other factors I had to consider, but those were the main ones. Once we checked-in, we headed to the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was at Maggianos which was PERFECT because I could hardcore carbo-load, and carbo-load I did with lots and lots of water.
During this whole time I started telling everyone there about my plans. I figured the more people I told, the more committed I was to this race. I went out for a little bit to celebrate with everyone, but I called it quits early so I could have enough rest for the next day, especially since I had to register at the race (which I've NEVER done before lol). I ended up going to bed early, but got awakened at 2 a.m. by some complete idiots, and didn't get to bed to about 3 (long story lol).
The next day I woke up at 5 and took a cab to the race location. It was absolutely beautiful!!!!! I looked at the course map the day before and saw that the turn around point was Harvard. The course itself gave me a perfect little tour of Boston without a tour guide. I was absolutely in heaven. I knew I had to take it nice and easy, so I relaxed and stretched and just took a look around.
The race finally started and I established my 10 minute something pace. I took some pictures, and maintained that pace for the first couple of miles. At about mile 4 I remembered thinking that I felt absolutely fantastic and I could probably pick up the pace. I continued to look around and just took it all in. The course had a couple of uphills and I took those hills head on. When I got to the 6.5 mile mark, I realized that I was actually kicking butt and could do well. Once I started approaching mile 8 I started getting a little nervous. That was my point of ending, I hadn't been doing more than that and I just didn't want it to mentally unnerve me. Well mile 8 came and went, then mile 9, and then 10.... Finally I got to mile 12 and I thought to myself... "Holy Crap... I can't believe I just frickin did all that mileage without walking". So I charged through mile 12 and kicked it at the end. I looked up just to see the clock come in at 2:05. I had beaten my PR. I was in complete shock. I was in no way thinking about beating my PR. I hadn't even been frickin training. I knew that the clock was not my official time, but I felt amazing. I ended up having walk back, and the walk back was pretty horrific, but I made it okay lol.
When I finally checked the official results, I saw 2:01:30...I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.
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