Well, it was cold - just like 2006 - but at least the forecast no longer called for rain. And, the predicted high for the day was supposed to be in the mid-50's. Hallelujah! I still am not quite sure what made me agree to run the Tallahassee Half-Marathon a mere 4 weeks following the Disney Half, but I am glad that I did it ... for many reasons.
I can't say that I was the best prepared, because my runs between Disney and the Tally only ranged from 4.5 miles to about 6.5 miles. The weather and clashing family schedules had made it quite difficult to carve out a block of time longer than an hour on any given day. However, I felt that since I had been up and over 13 miles more than a few times in the last several weeks, that I could handle it. So, up at 6:00 a.m. to be at the Mike Long Track on FSU's campus by 7:00 a.m. "ish" in order to meet my friend Karin who was running her FIRST half-marathon. I had told another friend that I was NOT going to run Tallahassee only four weeks after Disney, but agree to run I did so that someone else could "drink the kool-aid" as Chuck says.
Karin is really a cyclist, and she is an avid one at that. She does century rides, and rides for fallen law enforcement officers, and such. She says now that she was not "quite" ready for the it, yet she finished her first half in 2:08.22! Hooray for her! She ended up leaving me about mile 4 and that was okay. I knew that I planned to run pretty steady 10 minute miles, and she was running about 9:45 or so miles. I did end up finishing only 7 minutes behind her in spite of a "tightly coiled" hamstring from about mile 8 until the end that required several stretching stops. I did post my personal best time of 2:15.11 (according to my watch).
I was pleased overall with the morning's runs. Yes, RUNS: Karin had a fabulous morning, I was so proud of her and her finish. I ran a personal best. I saw my great running buddy (to whom I had openly declared I "was not going to run Tallahassee!") Desiree. And, several of my Team in Training friends were race volunteers or cheerleaders along the route. I am glad I got out of bed and went to run that day. Truly!
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