You Sure Can Talk, Baby: My Half Marathon Month

I ran my first half marathon in April 2001. I did it on a whim because I had just done a full marathon in February, training with an organization called Team in Training, raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and when a bunch of my fellow runners from that event suggested it, I was like why not? I’m all trained up already and it will seem short compared to the torture of a full marathon! Then I surprised myself by running faster than I ever thought possible with an average pace of 9:34 per mile, where I had always thought of myself as a 10 minute mile (or more) slow poke. Especially for longer distances and I proved that with my February marathon time being 4 hours 44 minutes or a pace of 10:51/mile.

Flash forward 15 years (a span of time in which I did a lot of things, but little if any running), and the half marathon distance has become MY race. But what started it all was another whim: some friends at a new job decided to do one as a group challenge, and then after that first race I and the person who became my fabulous “running buddy” just kept going…and going…and going…to the point where I’ve now completed 17 half marathons and all except for that very first one, in the last 6 years. I absolutely freaking love it.

So this month my running buddy and I are doing three half marathons, three weekends in a row - we are officially 2 down and 1 to go! My half marathon month (similar to My Yoga Month, a million years ago).

And my half marathon month couldn’t have begun more inauspiciously with the worst weather for a race I’ve ever experienced: unusually cold and wet for November in Savannah, GA (so bad they cancelled the full marathon), and these unhappy faces say it all.

I think I ran faster than I would have otherwise, all water logged (despite the garbage bag a nice fellow runner gave me), and cold and miserable, just because I so wanted it to be over. And finish we did, with the best part being how afterwards we cozied up in our Airbnb watching Netflix for the rest of day while it continued to pour outside. Eating everything in sight with no guilt, because I mean - 13.1 miles, c’mon!

I’ve started calling it my “race reward eating” and it gives me a ton of pleasure, esp since I’m on a strict diet otherwise, paring myself down to lowest weight and body fat imaginable so I can enter a fitness competition before I turn 50. But that’s another blog post!

Next race (this past weekend) couldn’t have been more different, at the St.Pete Runfest with unbridled sun and blue skies the whole way, but blessedly low humidity and a little on the “cold” side - just perfect running weather. And so my time improved a tiny bit, from 10:05 minute miles in Savannah to 9:58.

And we were much happier, before, during and after! Especially because St.Pete Runfest has a great post-race party with lots of free samples and yummy food. It’s all about the post-race food, did I mention that?

And finally, this coming weekend we do Central Florida Legends Mermaid Half Marathon, one of my very favorite races. This is the second year we’ve done the Mermaid, but the first year I did this race series back in 2019 I did the “Skunk Ape” full marathon, mainly because I needed to prove to myself I could still run 26.2 miles, that the first one hadn’t been a fluke.

Well, I “ran” it in almost 5 and 1/2 hours, so if I proved anything it’s how much slower I am in my 40s than I was with my first marathon at age 29 (about 45 minutes slower actually). And I was hurting pretty bad after that one, I gotta say, so I pray I never whimsically do another full marathon again. But half marathons? No problem!

We actually already did 3 half marathons almost in a row - with one “off” weekend between each race - back in Feb.2020 right before everything shut down for COVID, and I got my very fastest time, even beating my 29 year-old self’s 2001 PR. So now I’ve got to beat the 9:21 miles I managed to do at Best Damn Race Orlando and I just have no idea how I’m gonna do it. But, I will give it my best damn shot!