A MAKESHIFT HALF MARATHON

Finishing Corvallis in 2013. I wore this
shirt yesterday in honor.

I am happy to report I can run a half marathon distance without too much difficulty. If my original plans held, this weekend I would have been running the Corvallis Half Marathon. However, I waited to sign up until I could convince someone to go with me. Eventually a group of friends was planning to go but that was right as my body was breaking down so I didn't sign up, not knowing how long it would take me to get back into the swing of things. When I finally felt good enough to sign up, it was $80 and that is just ridiculous.

Anyways, I probably wasn't ready to try and run a half marathon fast anyways, so being able to tackle one in an "easy, long run pace" format was a good start. Originally I was going to run with the Portland Marathon Clinic on Saturday morning, do their nine mile run and then tack on four extra, but Brandon's lacrosse schedule had different ideas, so I was relegated to running by myself on Sunday. I even woke up early, around 8:00am, so I could get this run in before an early afternoon Timbers game. Woke up early. To run by myself. Guess my dedication hasn't waned quite as much as I thought.

Two potential routes were plotted out the night before, my fairly regular home to Fanno Creek Trail loop, which ended up being the perfect distance if I did the usual turnaround at the Tigard Library, or another "new territory route" up 170th to Walker and back on Murray. Certainly not new territory in general, just new running territory. I went to bed planning to run the "new loop" but by the time I went to run I headed out on the Fanno Creek Trail option. Just didn't feel like dealing with the constant whizzing of cars and chose relative peace and quiet even if it was overly familiar.

The run ended up being really uneventful. The only thing to note was my more sluggish pace. I just went out and ran what I felt was a 9:20 pace based on my recent long runs. After my first mile was about right I watched as my mile times crept upwards into the 9:50s. My pace felt much faster so I didn't push it. Just ran with the way I felt, not overly concerned about my pace. A 9:58 mile on a flat part of the course was a little concerning, but I felt like I was giving it appropriate effort, so maybe it was just one of those days. However, by the end of the run my times crept back into the 9:20s with the same perceived effort, so that made me feel a little better.

Overall, I couldn't have been happier about how things went. My legs felt great the whole time, didn't even really feel too tired at the end (maybe a result of the slower middle miles?) and the run itself didn't seem to drag on too long. While my overall 9:35 pace wasn't anything to brag about, I went out shooting for 9:20-9:25, so I wasn't even that far off. It gave me confidence that I have a half in me, so I'll run the distance once more in training, likely next week, and then try to attack the Indianapolis Mini Marathon on May 2nd. Won't PR, but hopefully I can go sub 1:45.