2015 vancouver lake half marathon

Hello! Hope your Wednesday is going great.  I taught Body Combat this morning and had a sweaty good time with my class (as always).  I just love how no matter how challenging (or great) my morning starts out, I always leave class happier, a bit saner and have a general feeling of awesomeness.

So like I mentioned I ran my fourth half marathon on Sunday, yay!  [Side note: a new gal came to my combat class today and told me she is a big time runner and ran 22 half marathons last year.  That is nuts!]  Back to Sunday.  I ran the 13.1 mile Vancouver Lake Half Marathon with my gal pals Megan and Laura.  I was so much fun running with these ladies!  My mom came to cheer us on and captured pictures.  There are so many reasons I like this race (it was my 3rd time running it).  Let me tell you five of them:

• super flat course
• about 5 minutes from my house
• the way the course is laid out with 3 out and backs lets you see your cheerleaders a lot without them having to move around to different spots
• it’s inexpensive
• it’s a small race

Megan and I we were super stoked and ready to go.  The temperature was perfect – about mid to upper 40s I believe plus fog – no rain!  We met up with Laura and took our spot in the port-a-potty line.  Pre-run necessity.

A few minutes after that it was race time!  I just love how Laura and I are getting our dance on right at the start of the race.  Best way to start it!

The first out and back took us to 3 miles.  I tossed my long sleeve shirt to my mom and we all gave the double thumbs up.  Feeling good and energized.

Our next out and back added 6 more miles on.  Double thumbs up continue!  I was still feeling great, except I could tell my bladder was filling up.  Gummy bears were around the corner and I was so thankful for that since I forgot to bring any dried fruit to snack on.

We pushed through another 3 mile out and back taking us to 12 miles.  I was right by the potties but with only a mile to go I knew I couldn’t stop.  We were so close!  Although my hips, knees and ankles were hurting, it wasn’t as bad as I remember it being years back.  I never felt like I needed to give up.

As we ran through the park we saw our cheering crowd and got excited since the end was so near!

When we were coming around the final bend we saw that the time was 1:59:45 – time to sprint it to the finish!  I pushed as hard and fast as I could and came in at 1:59:59!

Megan and Laura finished seconds after.

This definitely felt like my strongest half marathon.  While it wasn’t my fastest (although it was my second fastest), I physically felt like I was able to handle it really well.  My body recovered super well from it and I didn’t have major soreness.  Even though my training started only 10 weeks before the race and my training was spotty at best (1-2 runs a week with some time skipped while on vacation), I felt really good running it.  So even though my running training was mediocre, my well rounded fitness routine stayed consistent and continued to challenge my body.  Personally I feel like the combination of fitness yoga 3-4x a week, body pump/strength 3x a week and combat 1x a week helped my body to be ready for the physical demand that 13.1 miles puts on it.  Throw in the training runs and increased mileage and I was ready for it!  I still feel so excited about how great I felt after.  Also, the massage I got yesterday sure didn’t hurt. 🙂

What is your workout routine like?  Heavy in certain areas or balanced?  I’d love to hear about it!

Heather