More Fitness Half Marathon {it feels nearly effortless with friends}

* It should be noted I wrote this Monday morning prior to the tragedy in Boston. I had planned to post it later on Monday, but postponed it.

 

I woke up Monday morning for work at 5:00a.m. and was still drunk on endorphins (as Theodora coined it).

I wish I could say the same is true for how I felt Sunday morning at 6:00a.m. When my alarm went off, the last thing I wanted to do was schlep my body around Central Park for two loops in the More Fitness Magazine Half Marathon.

 

My plan for the half marathon:

A. Run at goal marathon race pace (like I did at Allstate 13.1 New York).

B. Run slow and enjoy it if my legs didn’t feel recovered from Tuesday’s 20-miler.

After running a few miles, I knew my legs weren’t up for both the hills and the speed session so I took a pit stop and and waited until I spotted some friends along the route.

 

I tend to be inside my head way too much when I’m doing a hard workout or feeling struggling during a run. As soon as I found Theodora, Gia, Meggie and Krista that all changed. Suddenly my mind was transported to catching up with these ladies and I was no longer worried about nailing a certain pace or worried about why my legs felt like lead.

The theme of this annual female only race was “women run the world”. It has a more relaxed vibe than many of the other New York Road Runner Races and it always goes off without a hitch. This was my third time running it and I have to say it was, my favorite year to participate in the race.

Without the company of these amazing runners, it would have just been another slug-fest day of running loops in Central Park. Instead the miles were happy and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the miles than catching up with friends and being inspired by their recent accomplishments (hello, Gia just ran a 3:32 in L.A.!).

As Gia and I rounded the lower loop for the third time, I could feel our pace pick-up just as my blood sugar was crashing. She, was still chatting away and seemingly having an easy go at it, while it took just about all I had left in me to push through and focus on a fast finish.

Our average pace ended up not being too far off from my plan A pace after all, but felt much more effortless when surrounded by friends.

 

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post. I received a complimentary race entry from Fitness Magazine.