Half Marathon Name and Date
Kansas Half Marathon April 18, 2010
Number of half marathons completed
This was my first one.
Would you run another half marathon?
Yes. I am doing the Kansas Half Marathon in April 2011
How I Trained for My Half Marathon
I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing to train properly but I thought that running was the way to get my mileage up. So I just started running. After doing some research, I realized that I also needed to do alternate exercises (like riding a bike or lifting weights) on the off days, so I did that too. By the time I was done training I ran parts of the race lots of times before the actual race so I was very familiar with the first about 7 miles. This helped me a lot when doing the actual race. I got my mileage up to about 11-12 before the race.
How I Ran My Half Marathon
I was so nervous before I heard the horn go off to start the race. I had so many thoughts going through my head -- Could I finish it? Was I going to get hurt running that far? When the horn went off I was so ready to start running and get the race over with. They had mile markers at every mile but somehow I missed the first 5 mile markers (I guess it was all the adrenaline I had in my system). By the time I got to the hill at mile 10 I was so tired and couldn't believe that I was already that far in the race. I walked almost the entire hill to hopefully save energy for the rest of the race. I was so excited when I made it to the finish line and everyone was cheering for me. I thought I could finish it in about 2 hours 10 minutes. I wasn't too far off, I finished it in 2 hours 14 minutes.
Lessons Learned
- Don't overtrain.
- If you are injured, don't run.
- Run with a partner.
- Eat a proper breakfast everday but more importantly the day of the race.
- Don't think of the race as 13.1 miles - think of it as a 10 mile jog and a 5K race.
- Talk to others along the race. They are doing the same thing as you, and they can give you advice and encouragement.
- Tell everyone that you are running a half marathon. It helped me when people would ask me how my training was going.
