I survived my back-to-back halfs (and a bike tour)

April 28th: Washington, DC Half Marathon
May 4th: Irvine, CA Bike Tour
May 5th: Irvine, CA Half Marathon

That’s what my timetable read a fortnight ago. I still can’t believe I was able to do relatively well with my half marathon at the end of April — the inaugural Nike Women’s Half Marathon in DC — and then was able to PR my half marathon a week later in Irvine. Did I mention I also did the 50km (but it was officially a 33.9-mile) bike tour the day before my half personal best?

I shouldn’t really be surprised though: my fitness has greatly improved over the past several months, thanks to consistently running at least twice during the week and then doing some sort of long-run or workout in the weekend. Also, I’m beginning to believe more in myself, thanks to friends who truly believe I can go faster! LOL. Yep, I still lack that little bit of self-confidence when out on the course and it took someone else to say that I could do it ’til I finally believed it! So, thanks to my friends Irene & Cristina! Irene knows I can run faster — she notices that I’m always overly cautious, though. Cris tells me the same! So last weekend, when another friend said I can do the 50km bike ride, instead of just the 14mi one, I said sure! Then the next day, rather than follow the 2:30 or 2:20 pace group, I went with the 2:10 thinking that I’ll have a 10-14 minute buffer for my target goal time — I was amazed I broke 2:15 (and would’ve been able to break 2:10 had my mind not faltered 3 miles before the finish!) Keep in mind, my race goal was to run the half with an average pace of 10:40 min/mile. I surpassed that “A” goal by running the half in 2:14.01, that’s an average pace of 10:14 min/mile. Again, super stoked I’m actually exceeding my time goal, all because of a little bit of confidence 😉

Anyway, I’m very excited with the prospect of having quicker times for next year’s goals — that’s if this sort of fitness (and confidence) holds up by next year! LOL. I still have two big races this year — my first trail run (She Rocks the Trails 25k) in a month and a few weeks, and then my first “real” sprint triathlon (Malibu Tri – classic distance in September). With those in mind, I’ll definitely be motivated with keeping up my fitness.

I leave you now with the schwag from last weekend’s race: two race shirts (one bike jersey), two medals, and a brick!