RnR Arizona, Going Sub 8 hours!

by SkinnyRunner on January 16, 2011

What, I did run sub 8! Ok, enough of me being a turd. Let’s start from the beginning.

I got up at 5am and got all ready. I had a mini larabar, couple cups of coffee and was ready to go.

We left the house at 6am and got to to the start a little before 7.

As evidenced by the pictures, I was pretty tired. Actually, all of us were. We’ve had a couple early mornings driving (and flying for my parents) here so I’m sure I will be comatose tonight.

We found close, free parking and made our way to the start line. I had a Picky Bar at 7:15 and then got in corral #2.

Just like last year, the first few crowds weren’t crowded at all. You could pretty much get up front with the elites if you wanted to get schooled.

It was a little chilly at the start which made for perfect running weather.

After a moment of silence for the victims of the Tucson Tragedy, we were off at 7:40am.

I knew the course would be super boring, but I wanted to try to not listen to my ipod for the first half of the race. The first mile I started out too fast, around 7:37, but after that I settled down and into a good 7:50ish pace.

I tried to expend as little energy as possible the first half while still staying on pace or close to it. I think I did a pretty good of that; the first 10 miles felt pretty easy, like a purposeful jog.

60 minutes in, I had ran 7.75 miles and was feeling good: not running too hard but still making good time.

I saw my parents and Jaybob 4 times throughout the race which was AWESOME. Seeing your family is such a mental boost!

I took my first gel at mile 9 and then crossed the halfway point at 1:42.

I turned my music on and got to work. Going in, I had really wanted to work on negative splits and running the second half harder than the first.

Second gel was taken at mile 15.

Mile 16-17 we faced a strong headwind, and like I said, the course was super boring. It was all Phoenix streets, nothing to look at. But it was very flat and fast.

16-18 were hard and boring, but at 19.5 I took my third gel and told myself I had 60 minutes of hard running to do and then I was done.

Because I started pretty conservatively, I felt like I was able to really pick it up the last 6-7 miles. Plus, it helped that I saw the fam again at mile 20ish.

I gave it what I could, took my fourth and final gel at mile 23, and kept picking up the pace. I also met reader Sidney at 23 which was another great mental boost; hope you got your 3:25, girl.

I counted down minutes, miles, steps, whatever I could to get me to that finish as soon as possible.

I kicked hard and finished in 3:20:54, 378th overall, 52nd female and 9th in my division. A new PR for me.

I saw my mom and my husbodoiburger right away which was great. Having your cheerleaders there at a race SERIOUSLY MAKES SUCH A DIFFERENCE.

I grabbed my goodies (water, Cytomax, bananas, Snickers marathon bar, orange slices, Popchips, and frozen yogurt cups!) and walked out to meet my adoring fans.