Running Along

As the one person who still reads this noticed, I completed two half marathons whilst still living in Texas.  Both were flat courses in that there were very few hills, which was helpful.  I finished Galveston in 2:02:14 and I finished the Woodlands in 1:58:50.

Then, upon relocation up to the PNW, I immediately took part in the Rock n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon, which was decidedly NOT a flat course.  I noticed the leg cramps were palpable.  I did finish the race, but it was SLOW.  I don't even know for sure what my finish time was, but it was somewhere around 2:41. 

After struggling with the Seattle half marathon, I did the only sensible thing, which was to sign up for another half marathon - this one being the Rock n' Roll Vancouver half marathon in October.  While not nearly as hilly as Seattle from what I've seen, it's definitely not flat like we had in Texas.  This means that I've had to get back to training (which I needed to do regardless, as I was falling out of shape). 

Running in this area is a bigger challenge than down in the Houston area, in part because there are not exactly any flat areas on which to run where we live.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, as training on hills uses a bit more energy and in theory should help me be more prepared for upcoming half marathons, but it does mean that my training has taken even more of a step back than it had by taking the better part of two months off (relocation, new job, new home, etc. meant less time for running, which in turn meant losing fitness).

Today I did my first eight mile run since moving up here.  I technically did 13.1 here, as I did complete the RNR Seattle half, but honestly, after 6.2 miles, I had to walk a lot (those hills were killer on my flatland-trained legs).  So, I'm getting back up there, and I'm confident I'll be good come October, and might even be able to challenge my PR, though, I'm mostly in it for the medals.

And, because this is what I do, I'm eyeballing a couple more half marathons, so that I can have 6 by the end of the year.