Since I ran the marathon in November, I had finals and then my wife and I became parents in January. Needless to say, I have not kept up with my running. I decided a couple months ago that I was going to shoot for the Charlottesville half marathon, but I decided not to do it a couple of times and recommitted to running it a couple of times. As school and family demanded my time, I wasn't sticking to the schedule I had set. (Plus I opted to play basketball rather than hit the pavement a couple of times, since I wanted to associate with some of my non-running friends a few more times before the end of school.) The longest I have recently run was 8 miles on March 9. Well, about a week ago, I decided that rather than train for this race, I was just going to run it. And, I did! It was very hilly, but very beautiful. I love Charlottesville, and I'm going to miss it. I'm glad I was able to get a race under my belt before I leave here. I was shooting for less than 2 hours, and I made it with time to spare! Chip time: 1:53:14, 8.64 minutes per mile. PR! (But it was my first half... :P) I definitely didn't have the same high and sense of accomplishment that I had in November. In fact, I ran through the finish line and walked directly to my car to get back home to shower before a class I have a few Saturdays this semester. With this race, it was more an affirmation to myself that I can still run long distances, that I'm not losing everything I worked up to last November...my body has been telling me all day, however, that I am out of running shape. I've been dealing with sore legs, back aches, head aches, and exhaustion all day. (As for the exhaustion, it didn't help that the start time for the race was 6:30 am.) I know it will take a couple days to recuperate, but at least this race sits as a place marker on my running progression. For the rest of this year, my schedule isn't going to get any easier and I'll continue to have adjustments of moving and starting my career, but I hope that I'll be able to run a race or two more this year. We will see how it pans out!
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