2013 More/Fitness Half Recap

You guys.

Have you ever heard the phrase endorphin-drunk? Well, I am endorphin-WASTED right now.

I did the More/FItness Half this morning (thanks to Fitness for the free bib!) for the third time. (2011 More/Fitness Half Recap; 2012 More/Fitness Half recap.)

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Insert standard OMG the corrals were so crowded photo. But really, they were really freaking crowded.

Gia and I were texting about the race, and she said that she and Meggie were going to run the race at an “easy pace.”

Y’all. Gia just BQ-ed, and Meggie regularly runs with her. Our easy paces are maybe just a little different. But still, I decided to start with them. If things got really tough, I told myself, I’d just hang back.

I haven’t been running much since the D.C. Half, so my plan going into this race was to “have fun and not kill myself.” We started off together and I went to hit start on my Garmin. Well, I hit start about 10 times and it never started. I decided I’d do this crazy “run without a watch” thing people talk about. I could have pulled out my phone and used an app to track myself, or I could have just gone with it, and I went with the latter. The ladies’ pace was definitely a little bit more difficult than I’d been planning on running today, but nothing I couldn’t keep up with. As we finished mile 3, Meggie said we’d done it around an 8:07.

“WHOA!” I said. Gia told me that it was probably better for me to not know my pace, and I decided to go with it. Again, I knew I could just hang back if the pace got to be too tough. As we took the hills on the west side of the park, things started getting a little tough. I did a little internal discussion: if I let the girls go, I could run at my own pace. If I let the girls go, I’d be running alone on tired legs. I knew that my mental resolve would be weaker if I did that, and the pace was still sustainable, so I kept it up.

Around W. 90th, Jess found us! Hello my lovely coach and buddy! Around mile 5, I started wanting a Gu. Since I’d not planned on racing, I only brought one, so I was a little nervous about Gu-ing so early and bonking later on, so I ended up consuming the Gu between miles 5 and 7. In this same time stretch, things started getting hard again, and I told myself I could ditch the girls after mile 7, when I’d have less than half of the race left.

I got to mile 7 and thought “uh, that’s still six miles.” A long time to go by myself on tired legs. I ended up waffling like this until around mile 9. Once I hit 9, I thought “just a four-miler from here!”

I ended up hanging on until mile 11, at which point I just couldn’t keep up with Jess and Gia any more and had lost the resolve to try–which was fine with me, since I hadn’t been planning on staying with them the entire time.

I shuffled through the last two miles and picked it up for the last .1 miles. I was exhausted but knew I had a little kick left. I knew I still would have a strong time but really had no idea what it would be. I saw the race clock near the finish, and it said 1:51 just before I hit the finish.

UM, WHAT?! I knew we were at least a minute or so behind the race clock when we started, so thought that maybe I could either PR (WHAT?!) or get really near my PR.

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1:51:28. As in, just 68 seconds slower than my PR. When I hadn’t been training much, hadn’t planned on racing it, and when I PR-ed a month ago.

I am shocked and elated.

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I love these ladies.

And running.

And life.

And sunshine.

(And puppies, obviously.)

Oh yeah, and I also did the Sports Bra Challenge after that.

Tell me about the last time you got completely endorphin drunk!

18 comments on “2013 More/Fitness Half Recap

  1. Katie H.

    Awesome job!!! I had a similar experience when I ran a half with a friend last summer. We hadn’t planned to run together, and she’s a little bit faster than me. We ran and talked the whole time, even stopped to go to the bathroom, and ending up finishing just 5 min slower than my PR. But, most importantly, it was the most FUN race I’ve ever done!

    Reply
  2. Meghan

    This post is hilarious. The Central Park 10K in January the first weekend of 2013 was definitely my last endorphin drunk and it was amazing. Glad you had such a great race!

    Reply
  3. Mom

    You still amaze me, make me proud and wish I could be with you at every race! I am in spirit always

    Great job!!!

    Love you
    Mom

    Reply
  4. Gillian @ That's G

    Congrats Theodora! That is an amazing time! I totally know what you mean about being on an endorphin high – I feel like that every time I take a spin class – I wish there was a Sports Bra Challenge in LA…

    Reply
  5. Cathryn

    Congrats on a great run!!!!

    My last endorphin high was 10 days ago – my friend and I did a stroller run together on trails. Three children, trails, sunshine and matching shirts. I am still buzzing now! Doing it again next week.

    Reply
  6. Belinda

    Is Gu a running electrolyte gel? I drank / ate / choked on one the other day. I found it was really sticky and almost stuck my throat together not to mention getting all over my hands. I had icky hands for the rest of my run.

    Reply
    1. Theodora Post author

      They have electrolytes, but it’s more of an energy gel since it’s just simple carbs that can be absorbed really quickly. Sorry it didn’t work for you :-/ Gu makes different consistencies, like Gu Chomps, and Clif also makes Shot Bloks (I like margarita-flavored both for the flavor and for the extra sodium), and there are lots of other brands/consistencies.

      Reply
  7. angela

    Really well done. I like the fact that you can remember what you were thinking at every mile and the dawning realization that you couldnt keep up so just went with the flow of your own body- its important to know just how far you can push yourself and you still finished in a great time.Congrats

    Reply
  8. Naomi

    Congratulations on a great race! I find that my best runs, and races, often come when I leave the Garmin at home and just fun “free.”

    Reply

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