Last weekend, I ran Choo Choo Nine Miler in Westerville, Ohio! When I registered back in January, I was expecting decent weather but Ohio apparently had other plans. I ended up going to buy a new outfit the afternoon before the race because I wasn't prepared to race in 19 degrees and snow. I was planning on running this nine mile race at half marathon pace (9:07) just to see if I have a good shot at breaking two hours at Cap City in a few weeks.
The morning of the race, J and I met up with a few of his speedy friends and I started my one mile warm up. I went to turn around at the halfway point and wiped out on an icy bridge (common theme on this blog: Alyssa falling down while running), so I was not expecting this race to go very well!
The first mile and a half of the race was on the road, then the rest of it was on a paved trail. I ran on these trails countless times when I lived in Westerville, so I knew the course pretty well. I started out very strong, running my first mile in 8:43! There were a couple bridges that were a bit icy, so I took those slow but pushed myself on the rest. I ran the entire race with music, and I took two Gus (one at each 5k split) - this was definitely more than I needed but it turned out just fine. We turned back toward the finish line just past 4.5, and I was still feeling so fast at this point. I started struggling around mile 7, slowing down the next two miles to 9:04 and 9:19 respectively. Luckily, Jamie started his cool down backwards along the course after his impressive 59:55 finish and then ran my last two-thirds of a mile with me. I was exhausted at this point and was so happy to have him there for that last part of the race! My official finish time was 1:19:41, a 8:51 pace! I ended up going even faster than I meant to, and I feel pretty confident about being about to break two hours at Cap City Half.
Training is going even better than I ever expected! This week, I finished my entire track workout for the first time (it was only my fourth week!). We ran 5x600s with 300 rests, and I was able to keep up with my friend Amanda for the whole workout. My weekly miles still aren't terribly consistent - I'll run low 30s one week then low 20s the next then be back up in the high 20s for a couple weeks. I'm still working on consistency, but I am making so much progress and I've seen huge improvements in my pace :D I'm averaging around 9:45 now! I'm also so proud of how much I stuck with running while I was moving - finally starting to get settled in now though!
Yesterday, I went a little bit outside of my comfort zone and met up with the Living Fit Columbus running group. I'm so glad I made it out to one of their runs - everyone was so sweet and encouraging! I truly love an empowering group of ladies!
That is just about all going on right now! I have one more long run tomorrow before I start tapering. I want to run sub 2:00 at Cap City then have fun the following weekend in Indy. :)
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Hello, my name is Alyssa!I'm a momma to Emerson Lilly and two fur babies, a distance runner, and just a girl full of sparkle and quirks. I love traveling to races and exploring new places to run! I started this blog in 2014 as more of a journal to keep track of training for my first marathon, and I've continued to post about training, races, and other things happening in my life. Also, I'd like to be your best friend. :) Categories
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