A half marathon PR

Well, hello new friends! I was honored to be featured on Runs for Cookies on Monday as part of Katie's Motivational Monday series, and it looks like a lot of you visited! Make sure you check out these posts to get a better sense of who I am and how I lost the weight (to be honest, it was more of a byproduct of using exercise and healthy eating to become the happiest version of myself I could be):

About me
How I lost the weight
My experience with disordered eating
What I eat now

If you follow me on social media at all (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter), you know that Sunday was a big day for me! As part of my Running for Miss Virginia self-challenge, I completed the Alexandria Half Marathon. It was my first half marathon since I ran the Charlottesville Half last April, and my training since has consisted of two marathons and generally averaging about 10-15 miles a week.

Not optimal half training, if we're being fair.

I woke up on Sunday feeling pretty good and setting a goal of finishing in under 2:10. My previous fastest recorded half marathon time was 2:20:10, and that was during the Marine Corps Marathon last year, not even a legitimate half marathon. Anyways, I thought 2:10 was a pretty lofty goal, but fit pretty well with my "not fast, not last" running motto.

Ready to go

 My plan was to bank time early on, and then not feel bad if I needed to slow down a little later on. I wanted to run the whole thing, but given my "training" program, didn't know if that was a realistic expectation. I finished the first mile in 9:17 and patted myself on the back for not going out too fast. But then the most bizarre thing happened: I got faster.

And faster.

And then, my pace evened out at 8:57 minutes per mile, which my Nike+ app cheerfully informed me of each mile from 6-12.

I saw my dad during mile 12 with our dog, Rusty, and he yelled out that I was going to finish sub 2:00. I yelled back not to jinx it, but knew he was right: it was in the middle of mile 12, and I felt great.

Mile 6: Shouting out that I'm averaging 8:57

My official time was 1:58:17, but the course was long (13.27 miles), and Nike+ clocked me in at 1:57:05 -- a 23 minute PR. I placed 144 out of 546 females.



Celebrating with the pup!

I love running because it's full of unexpected accomplishments. Every run is an opportunity to surprise yourself, and it's safe to say that this half was pretty darn surprising. I've got a 15k this weekend, and the Baltimore 10-miler in three weeks, and am honestly looking forward to setting time goals, something I never thought I'd be doing.

I ran my first half marathon in January 2011, and finished in over 2:48. It's pretty incredible how I've changed as a runner and as a person since then, and just goes to show you: you can accomplish anything you want to, given enough time, energy, and effort.

What's your biggest running accomplishment thus far? What's something you'd like to accomplish?