Saturday, April 6, 2013

Friday Favorites: Half Marathons

Oops...day late...vacay mode :-)

I love racing. I usually love the training too, but to me races make everything that much better. They make all of your sweat and hard work worth it. I am one of those people who lives for the competition. I thrive on it! I toe the start of every race with a goal in mind. I always have a plan. I am a planner!

Tomorrow (Sunday) I will be running my 15th half marathon. The half marathon is a distance that I have fallen in love with. In my mind it is the perfect distance. Not too long, not too short. Just enough time to feel it, but not needing to be in recovery mode for weeks after. It is a distance that I just have "clicked" with and I am not really sure why. If I look back on my previous racing experiences, my favorite races have all been half marathons (Girlfiends, Helvetia, Houston). Someday I would love to tackle the challenge of running a half marathon in every state.

Tomorrow my goal is to try and maintain my marathon pace of around the 7:30 range. On any given day I would say that this would be a cake walk....BUT....have you seen the course for San Fran?! Wow.


I would hope I can still maintain the pace range I would like, but it might be a touch slower than I would like. I am okay with that though! Sunday is not about a PR. This race will be on tired marathon training legs. This race will be about testing my pace and just seeing how it feels. The course will be much more challenging than the course I will be running 26.2 miles on, but it will still be a good gauge of my fitness level.

Questions for you:
Do you like the half marathon?
What is  race distance that you have "clicked" with?
Do you always have race plan or do you just wing it?

--Tasha


22 comments:

  1. I really like the 1/2 as well! Although, I think I am in love with the 10k distance. Not sure why - maybe because it seemed like something I would never be able to do but totally opened up the world of longer distances for me! Good luck!

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    1. I like 10ks too! I don't race them very often though!

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  2. I'm loving the half! But when I run it and think about upcoming marathon training I think...twice this?! Good luck today!

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    1. No kidding...I think the same thing about the marathon. The half is a good distance. :-)

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  3. You are so inspirational! Someday I hope to say it's my 15th half marathon :)
    You ill do great!! You got this girl :) Rooting for you!! Can't wait to read your recap!

    xoxo

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    1. Halfs are addicting....I have a feeling you will be hooked!

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  4. You know I love me a halfsie!!! I wing it more often than not. I always look for races, but rarely register and have them planned out months in advance. The only times I have done that were with the Detroit Marathon and the Pittsburgh Rock n Roll half that I am running this fall (and that was only because I got a great deal on it).

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    1. I would love to run Pittsburgh or Philadelphia someday Christie. The Rock n Roll races are so worth the price and super fun!

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  5. Replies
    1. It was way too much fun...might take a week to recover. :-)

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  6. Good luck Tasha. I hope you have a wonderful race. Like I already mentioned to you I would have loved to run this race since it is in my old stomping grounds. I don't think I know what my favorite distance is yet. The half marathon is usually long enough for me that I can really feel it at the end but maybe if I paced myself better that wouldn't be the case. (I'm a recovering go-out-too-faster.) Do I always have a plan? Pretty much. I'm a planner. I set my goals high and strive to reach them. :)

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    1. I am the biggest planner ever, drives my husband CRAZY. Of course I had a wonderful plan for Sunday that did not get executed, but it is what it is. The course was beautiful! I hope that you get to run it someday!

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  7. Hope it went well ... It is all over by now!!! Looking forward to the race recap.. I would love to do this one next year

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    1. I recommend this...but train on a lot of hills. Like run hills everyday if possible ;-)

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  8. This is a perfectly timed post given I run my first half marathon in 6 days time :-) I hope I fall in love with the distance the way you have!

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    1. I can't wait to hear about your 1/2 marathon Kari!!!! :-)

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  9. I hope you had a good race!!! And enjoyed San Francisco. :)

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    1. Gorgeous course, fun city, bad race. All well. :-)

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  10. For some reason your blog isn't showing up in my reading list and now I'm way behind...ARRGGG So sorry to not have been commenting...

    I think the half is the perfect distance too. Although I have not yet fallen in love with it I think we are still in the courting stage!

    looking forward to hearing/reading about your recap from the race!

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    1. No worries pretty lady! I have been so behind just because of vacation. Finally getting caught up myself. :-)

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  11. half is my favorite! it depends on the race-sometimes i have a plan, sometimes i just run for fun :)

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    1. You are the queen of half marathons Elizabeth! How many have you completed?

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I love your comments & inspiration