First half marathon complete!

[perry]

I made it! Finished the 500 Festival Mini Marathon!

First half marathon done in 1:56:27! I'm pretty darn happy with that considering I was shooting for 2:10 when I registered (which is how they picked my corral I think). I give credit to the 31,000 other runners for pushing and pulling me along. The course was crowded the entire way which really helped me out. There was lots of entertainment - a boy scout band, a guy playing a bagpipe, cloggers, square dancers, cheer leaders, and regular bands. I never really felt pain - just kept plodding on. Very fun.

Here's the GPS tracking of my run: http://rnkpr.com/a5jasr

Even have a couple pictures from when I was running on the track. You can see I cranked it up for the last couple miles. I don't feel like I had too much left in me at the end.

Should I go ahead and register for next year? I'm already looking forward to it.

 

[dklaiman]

And of course you should register for next year. Sounds like you had a blast. Why not do it again? And it's only May. Find another fun run for later in the summer. It's a great way to stay motivated to keep in shape.

-Dave

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Congrats! Getting those firsts out of the way really builds confidence...and dont worry about times yet. When you're starting out in long distance running...finishing the race should be the goal.

Screw the end time

 

[KeNd0]

Congrats! I'm working towards a .5 as well. Thinking of going for a full in Vegas in December.

 

[TimmyBoston]

That's awesome Perry. Congrats!

 

[Newfie]

Good job Perry, well done.

2208 calories burned???? That can't be right for that distance, is it?

 

[Desdinova]

Congrats!

 

[rickboone1]

Very good job!

 

[Laz]

Congrats! 13 miles in under 2 hours - that is something to be proud of.

 

[perry]

2208 calories burned???? That can't be right for that distance, is it?

Shrug. Maybe when you're as big as I am? 6'4", 225lbs. I've never really paid much attention to that number, which is maybe why I'm as big as I am

There's another half locally in a couple weeks that I now want to do. And I have races picked out in the summer to do as well.

Vegas in December.. I've been wanting to go back and they put a Rock n Roll Marathon pamphlet in my expo bag which planted the idea of a short vacation

 

[royalcrown]

Congrats! You going to be gearing up for a full?

 

[DunEdinRanger]

Congrats! You going to be gearing up for a full?

Congrats, but the right question is "Which Marathon have you picked as your first?"

Trust me, I know when the Marathon Bug has bitten.

 

[perry]

Haha, yea, I've toyed with the idea of continuing my training to get up to 26.2. There's a couple marathons here in Indy in the fall that would be perfect. I've always thought running a marathon was nuts, so maybe it's something for me?

But, I'm not sure I want to dedicate the time to it. I'd like to get back to cycling, and I have work I want to do to my house, and I'd like to have some sort of social life... And I liked this distance. 2 hours running, in my mind, is not too long and not too short. 4+ hours? Who knows.

A big part of my motivation for this one was running around the speedway. I LOVE that place.

 

[DunEdinRanger]

There are a lot of nice half marathons, but they're HALF Marathons.

Social lives are over rated.

You know you want to go the distance.

You know you can do it.

That was a long run. You need to do two more, being out for three hours.

There are a lot of smaller nice marathons in the Midwest.

http://www.marathonguide.com

 

[perry]

Oh yea.. I said I liked that track. I wanted to see those bricks up close and personal. I made sure I got a picture of them. I trained for 6 months.. in 10 degree weather, in the snow, in the rain, with some pain, when I didn't want to.. to get this picture:

And my damn finger was in the way! How bout them apples???

P.S. It was a pikermi!

 

[TimmyBoston]

Perry, I know over 30,000 people run the mini. How were the crowds? Was it just nuts trying to keep moving?

 

[perry]

I decided not to run the other half in a couple weeks. Instead, I decided to volunteer. The volunteers at the Mini were great, so I feel the need to give back

 

[KenR]

A sub 2 hour half is a great time for your first. I've run about 30 of them and only broke 2 hours once. Still looking for my second.

 

[tg16]

Congratulations! Now I'm feeling inspired. I plan to enter a 5k this fall and move on to a half marathon next year. After reading your post, I'm motivated! Maybe I'll take a short vacation and come up there to enter that one next year.

 

[dklaiman]

There are a lot of smaller nice marathons in the Midwest.

It's not small, but the Twin Cities Marathon is beautiful. It's in October, so you'll have plenty of time to get your mileage up.