(Photo courtesy of Anna)
As I talked about last year, the last 4+ miles of the Half were beyond painful. It took everything I had to get some sort of mild jog in place during the last 150 yards or so so that I wasn’t just walking across the finish line.
As the intervals had worked so well during camp in November, I planned to use a 3/1 interval to “save” myself for the later miles. I believed that this would also give me the opportunity to hit my time goal.
To help achieve this, I asked both Paul and Jamie to help with watching the pacing. The first 5 miles went really well — both in terms of pace and overall feel. Between miles 5 and 7, I had to go to walk/run intervals at times, but it still felt fine. But by mile 8, my legs started to really tighten up.
This meant having to walk for about ten to fifteen minutes to try and stretch it out (around the turnaround). But by doing so, I was able to get back to a walk/run interval by the time we came out of the turnaround.
So this year, miles 9 to 13 weren’t as bad. I still couldn’t fully run them as hoped, but at least it was far better than last year. Instead of limping in pain and having to stop every few minutes to stretch, I was able to run in spots.
Also, what REALLY helped with the Team Catapult cheer and “hydration” station at about 12.5 miles. That shot of Fireball was a great boost for the final push!
Thank you to Team Catapult for all of their help and support throughout the weekend! Thank you to Jamie and Paul for all their help and guiding!
