Bridget signed us up for the Rock ‘n River at the beginning in the year. Bridget’s knee still hasn’t been cooperating lately: she still hasn’t been able to run over three miles without pain since the Chico Half. Even if her knee was feeling better, she most likely would have been running with her dad in the Eugene Marathon. (Ron did a great job up in Eugene with a time of 4:07. I think his next marathon he’ll definitely be qualifying for Boston with Bridget!)
So instead Bridget decided to volunteer for the race, directing traffic with Nagisa. She took some fun pictures while she was out there.
Meanwhile, this was the first time that I really didn’t have any running partner for the half marathon. I’d been running at the gym to keep in shape for our trip to Machu Picchu. And the past few weeks, I’d had some pretty good runs. The week prior I dragged Rob through a 12 mile run with NSET. Sorry Rob! I meant only to run six, but Ron pushed us to go double, which was a good way to start our season, I guess.
Before the start, I saw OB at the start of the line. We chatted for a bit, and I set out what I was looking to do. I had never broken below the 1 hour, 50 minute mark, so that’s what I was hoping for.
And so we started! I think I was in the lead of the entire race for about 2 seconds since I was at the beginning of the line, but this quickly changed when people started passing me up.
I had run this course last year, but it was great to see Bridget and Nagisa over by my parents. To be honest, I didn’t feel as if the run was going well. But as soon as I looked at my GPS at mile 7, I realized I was on target to achieve my goal. I was averaging under an 8 minute mile. I took a goo, and kept going.
I saw Bridget on the way back, and then for the first time in a half marathon, took a second goo and then tried to kick in the burners. The final leg was there, and then OB came out of nowhere and ran me in to keep my speed up. (He finished under 90 minutes).
I came in, and then noticed my time. I PR’d at 1:41:58 time for the 13.1 miles. I averaged under an 8 minute mile for the first time! I was pretty happy with that. (My GPS calculated that I only ran 12.7 miles, but whose counting.)
I finished up, and then Bridget and I went over to support Anya and Megan who were running the full marathon. They did great! And congrats to them for getting another full under their belt.
And I do have to admit that running the half marathon a week before Machu Picchu was definitely a good move.
We’ll see where our next running adventure takes us! Next time with Bridget!
