IMG_2489I ran my 11th half marathon on Sunday, March 25th in Grosse Ille, Michigan at Rock CF River Half Marathon. I was scrolling through Facebook and saw the event for the Rock CF Half Marathon. It is an event that the proceeds go toward Cystic Fibrosis. I love running races that help foundations. I was in the mood to add races to my calendar. I needed to race. I asked my husband if he wanted to run this half also. He said sure, so I did not hesitate to sign up. That night I signed myself and the husband up for the race. I also signed myself up for Riverbank 25k in May.

I was nervous about the logistics about this race. I am training for Boston and this half happened to fall on peak week and race day I needed to get 22 miles in. I knew I would need to do some warm up miles and cool down miles. I have only even done this once before and it was for a local race, so I was able to get up early and run around home and get back in time to head to the race with my family. Oh, and I never completed my cool down miles for that day.

I happened to see a week before the race that Laura (IG:nebraskarunner) was also running the race and she is training for Boston. So, I asked her if she wanted to run a warm up with me.

The day before the race (Saturday), I ran 5 shake out miles on the treadmill. My husband, daughter and I got ready, went to an Easter egg hunt, and stopped at the outlet mall before making the 3.5 hour drive to Grosse Ille. We went right to packet pick up at the Middle school and ran into Laura and her son and Tasha a fellow mind over matter athlete. We talked for a while and come up with a plan for the morning which my daughter and her son ran around the gym playing. It was so cute. We were going to meet at the shuttle parking lot at 6:30 am and run 6 miles for warm up. After we picked up our packet, we checked into the hotel 6 miles away and went straight to dinner since we knew it was going to be busy. We got back to the hotel in time to put the little right to bed since we needed to get up early. We went to bed shortly after.

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Well, I did not sleep. I think I was up majority of the night. Anyone else get nervous before a race and cannot sleep? I had a huge goal for myself. I wanted a sub-1:32. Do I think it was achieveable? Of course, But I was on peak week. I hit all of my speed work and tempos. I ran 57 miles prior to Sunday.

5:30 am the alarm goes off. The husband and I are up and in the bathroom together getting ready trying not to wake the little one. It was 18 degrees with a real feel of 11 degrees and about 15 mph winds. I was putting on all the layers. I do not like to be cold when I run. 6:10 am, we are in the lobby getting breakfast- Bagel and Banana (Thanks Holiday Inn for starting breakfast early that day). 6:25 am, we are at the shuttle parking out. This is where I was going to meet Laura to run. My husband and daughter were going to meet our friends a little later at the shuttle lot to watch our daughter. 6:35 am- completely dark and FREEZING, we are running. We found the course and ran the last 2 miles of the course and then about 1.5 miles of the start. We were going into the wind and it was not awful. It was definitely tolerable. We watched the sunrise over the Detroit River with Canada and Detroit off in the distance. 6 miles at 7:40 avg for warm up. Not bad. 7:25 am – Call my husband to see where he was. Just getting on the shuttle. I checked my coat and vest I worn for my warm up. It felt like it took FOREVER for my husband and friend Ashlie (IG:get.our.run.on) to get there.

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I finally found them and we made our way slowly out of the gym to the start. By the time, we got outside it was less than 5 mins until the start. I was seriously freezing from being sweaty from my warm up. The national anthem played and we were off. The first 2 miles were along the Detroit River. I ran most of this strip this morning. The wind was not awful. I was running effortlessly. 1 mile- 6:56! YES. I wanted to run about 7:00 min/mile. I was right on. Mile 2- 6:56! Okay we are going to be consistent. I am good with that. We then turned and the wind was working with us. Mile 3,4,5,6- 6:50, 6:55, 6:49, 6:55! Oh please let me keep this pace. It would be awesome to run a sub 7 min/mile half marathon. My legs were started to get fatigued. So, I fueled up. Miles 7,8,9- 6:58, 6:57,

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6:59. Losing some speed but still a sub7. I am okay with that. Just keep the pace. Just before mile 10 we ran through the Navel Airport Hanger, which was awesome and amazing. I loved it. We turned and bam the wind hit. The wind got way worse as it got later in the day. Mile 10- 7:06. Not bad. I can deal with that. Just keep that pace for 3 more miles. Well, easier said than done. I was digging as deep as I could and felt like I was barely moving. There were a few hills in the last 3 miles. I would get up the hills and just let go on the down hills. I would add burst of speed to help my pace every couple mins just for like 30 secs. I was repeating NEVER GIVE UP. I knew I was going to be close to my goal time. Mile 11- 7:16, Mile 12- 7:20. Come on, Mary. One more mile. You can do this. The last mile was straight into the wind with a hill then you turn and round to the finish line. Mile 13- 7:19. As I rounded to the finish line, I saw the time clock 1:31:4X. RUN FASTER. GET YOUR TIME. The last .1 I clock in at 6:40. I guess I really wanted my goal time to MOVE even though I was freezing.

I stopped my garmin at 1:31:59. I thought I only got my time by one second. I still had 3 cool down miles to do. I ran back on the course to find my husband and help him finish. I found him at about mile 12. I ran with him until the end. Watched him finish then went to complete my last mile. 3 cool down miles at 8:33 avg. I had finished my 22 miles for the day at 7:18 avg AND PR’d my half marathon by almost 4 minutes.

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We went into the gym. I picked up my bag. Found my friend Ashlie. She was trying to PR also and wanted to go check her results. She DID! I checked mine too. 1:31:50 official time (7:01 avg)! HECK YES! SO SO EXCITED.

I loved this race. It was a fabulous course, a larger crowd, great shirts, homemade cookies, well organized, and lots of great runners. I placed 4th in my age group out of 72. 11th female out of 522. 69th overall out of 976. That is a lot of good runners.

After this half marathon, it has given me a confidence boost for Boston. I ran 22 miles that day for a 72 mile week and had an awesome ran on tired legs. I just have to keep in mind “the body achieves what the mind believes”- Mind over Matter

My mind is ready to go for a PR!

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