So I didn't make my pretraining goal of 2:43:45 (12:30 min miles), but I am pretty satisfied for the result regardless. Finishing in 2 hours, and about 56 minutes put me at about 13 1/2 minute miles.
Longest straight distance I did before the mini: 4.75 miles in an hour on a treadmill (12 min 37 second mile average)
Longest straight distance I did on the ground: 4 miles in an hour last Wednesday (15 min/miles)
It felt great. I didn't start getting tired until around mile 10. I loved the scenery and the atmosphere. I never even wanted to pull out my iPod. I probably passed more people than passed me. I mostly just tried to walk really fast- kind of like the pace that Dad likes to walk whenever we leave a crowded venue. For the first 9 miles, I had no problem picking up my pace and jogging a few hundred yards every time I saw a mile marker. It probably helped that for the first time, I was wearing all real running equipment (except shoes, but running socks made a HUGE difference! NO blisters today!), and I took an excedrin right before the race based on advice. I was on TV near mile 6, clutching my iPhone in its ziplock bag that I was using to time myself, and waving at the camera. Dad just happened to catch it by surprise, and has it on a VHS at home.
The last couple miles were rough, I was getting anxious for the end since it was all downtown and I kept feeling like I should be closer than I was. I pushed as hard as I could down the last 3-4 blocks, just before I turned onto Preston and then the last so many hundred yards to the way-too-far-away-at-that-point finish line. The idea of walking anymore once I crossed it seemed very awful, but gosh does the pain really set in once you just stop after constantly moving for 3 hours.
I went in just hoping to finish with an official time (3 hours, 15 minutes). Then when I got there, there was no 15:00 minute mile pacer, just a 13:45 minute pacer so I ended up setting that as my goal. I followed him for a couple miles, but he was doing more like 15 minute miles for the first two miles so I got impatient and went ahead and made up the time to have 13:45 min/miles. While making up that time during miles 2-6, I got ahead by like 3 minutes and ended up keeping that until my little sprint at the end.
After the invite from a friend at school, I'm doing a 5K in 2 weekends. I'd like to finish that in like 30 minutes, which I think I could do. Maybe faster, if it works out like the Mini goal did. Another 10K sometime this summer, I can't remember when my friend said it was.
Now I'm wondering what the official time limit for a triathlon is. Just curious.
