{"id":1875,"date":"2015-10-18T20:44:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/?p=1875"},"modified":"2015-10-18T20:44:51","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:44:51","slug":"9-run-run-half-marathon-and-tapering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/?p=1875","title":{"rendered":"9 Run Run Half Marathon and Tapering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"9<\/a>

Finishing my first half marathon, the 9 Run Run in 2:04:50. Thanks to Kerry for the pictures and the inspirational quote.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yesterday I returned to the site of my very first half marathon. \u00a0Three years ago I did my first ever 21.1 km at the 9 Run Run race in Stittsville. \u00a0I still clearly remember the nerves, the excitement, the questioning of just how fast I could cover the distance. \u00a0I remember starting faster than I had planned and deciding to go with it. \u00a0I remember thinking I would probably finish around 2:12 but was secretly hoping for less than 2:10. \u00a0I shocked myself by finishing in 2:04:50. \u00a0I honestly had no idea I was capable of achieving that time. \u00a0I entered that race thinking it might be my one and only half marathon. \u00a0I crossed the finish line with such a runner’s high that I knew without a doubt there would be more. \u00a0Indeed, there have been many more. \u00a0Yesterday’s half marathon was my 16th time toeing the line of a half marathon. \u00a0There has also been one 30k race and two marathons. \u00a0Throw in some 5, 8 and 10k’s as well as a couple of 10 milers and it has clearly been a busy three years.<\/p>\n

Last month I used the Army Run Half Marathon – one of my favourite races – as part of a long training run in preparation for the upcoming Road2Hope Marathon in Hamilton. \u00a0I find incorporating an organized race into a long slow run so much fun. \u00a0The biggest challenge of course is monitoring your pace and reminding yourself that you are not racing. \u00a0Even with those reminders I do run faster than if I was out on my own, but I don’t leave it all out there on the course. \u00a0Instead, I take the time to truly enjoy the race, which is exactly what happened at the Army Run a few weeks back. \u00a0When I came home from the race I immediately looked at the local race schedule to see if there was another event I would like to use and 9 Run Run jumped out. \u00a0I did briefly debate it, after all running by yourself is a lot cheaper than paying for a race that you are not racing. \u00a0But I am so happy\u00a0I went ahead and registered. \u00a0This weekend was my last long run, and it was just so much fun to celebrate the work I have put into marathon training at an actual event. \u00a0To be honest, if I had run on my own yesterday I am not sure if my heart really would have been in it. \u00a0Maybe I even would have bailed, which is exactly what I did last Thursday when after 3k I decided that all I really wanted to do was go for a long walk. \u00a0There were no thoughts of quitting though yesterday, just a chance to enjoy a good run.<\/p>\n

Taking part in 9 Run Run gave me the energy to go into the run positively and even look forward to the run, despite my tired legs. \u00a0I opted not to add mileage and instead let myself go faster than marathon pace but not full-out. \u00a0In the end I finished in a comfortable 2:00:54 – four minutes faster than that very first attempt three years ago when I pushed myself to the limit. \u00a0I’m not sure what my time would have been yesterday had I pushed hard. \u00a0I am assuming I could have taken at least 2 minutes off, maybe more. \u00a0But the nice feeling was finishing 21.1 km at a steady pace with no stiffness the next day. \u00a0I still might not be super fast, but I am stronger and fitter than 3 years ago.<\/p>\n

While I started my taper last week, it is only today that I truly feel like the taper has officially started. \u00a0I took the taper rules very seriously today… perhaps too seriously. \u00a0I did nothing. \u00a0At all. \u00a0All day. \u00a0And I loved it. \u00a0But there are still a few runs to do. \u00a0There are two more double-digit runs – a 10 and a 13 – and then several single digit runs leading up to marathon day. \u00a0Everything now is a mental game, I can’t change anything physically. \u00a0I will not get faster at this stage. \u00a0I admit perhaps my one area of disappointment is the fact that I am not faster. \u00a0But I am trying not to dwell on that. \u00a0This marathon will be better than my last and I hope faster than my first. \u00a0Stayed tuned for my marathon goals.<\/p>\n

\"FullSizeRender<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow me on Twitter @AverageRunnerK<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I returned to the site of my very first half marathon. \u00a0Three years ago I did my first ever 21.1 km at the 9 Run Run race in Stittsville. \u00a0I still clearly remember the nerves, the excitement, the questioning of just how fast I could cover the distance. \u00a0I remember starting faster than I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3amQ2-uf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1875"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1881,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875\/revisions\/1881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}