On the way to Tavares for this half Shannon and I were freaking out becuase it was pouring rain. I almost pulled over but it subsided. We got there and it was overcast and temperatures had chilled to 50s. I just put on my gloves and hat and was ready to go.
I did really good the first 6 miles but the wind was getting stronger towards the end. The course was weird. Not that I've done that many but I've previewed a lot. It was like the 5k loop we did twice and then the remainder miles made up another loop we did twice. So we saw a lot of houses and the lake and the same runners passing. It was nice to meet Kitzy from Daily mile and her awesome blog "See Kitzy Run".
I didn't like that the street was at a slant. I was trying to stay in the center to avoid any additional foot pain.
Around mile 6 a branch came flying down at me, I thought that was hilarious for some reason but the few around me asked if I was okay. I saw a guy in a wheel chair and I pushed him for a bit and chatted with him and his friend that was running beside him.
Around mile 10 was when I felt the winds were laughing at us, they were pushy and I felt really alone. Their was only a few hundred runners and my toes started to cramp. It was so weird but I tried to not focus on it so that I could keep going. I drank my water, gaterade, ate my gu and just wanted the course to be over with.
I know I could've probably done better but I hadn't really ran too much after the St. Pete half 3 weeks ago. I had some heel pain I was working on getting over. I didn't want to overdue this race and be too tired for work tomorrow either. It was just one of those races for me to think about a lot of things. 13.1 miles worth of a lot of things. I had my grandmother on my mind. She's been sick in the Dominican Republic and I pray she makes it to her 90th birthday. I really want to make it out to see her.
Sometimes we get too caught up in getting our next PR and next destination races, or what we're going to wear and it's always good to remind yourself, there are other things that matter too and are important. My next race is the Winter Park 10k March 24. I'm glad it's a 10k. I really want to hunker down and get some weight off and train more effectively before my next half. I'm looking forward to starting a new training with my partner Cristy. We want to get to 2:30 PR.
We're signed up for the RnR Latin Miami half marathon but that's in November, so before then, I'll have to find a few more. I was thinking of an out of town one for June and then NY RnR 10k in October with my dad. That way we can visit our family up there too.
So my finishing time for today: 2:47:09
St. Pete 3 weeks ago time was: 2:46:28
