Hill Valley Half Marathon Recap

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Last week I completed the Hill Valley Half Virtual Half Marathon over the course of four days- Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I'd have preferred to spread it out a bit more and have Saturday as a run day, but we were busy so Saturday wasn't an option.

I split the distance fairly evenly and the distances came in at 3.41 miles, 3.50 miles, 3.20 miles, and 3.20 miles. I ended up running a slightly long half at 13.31 miles in 3 hours and 43 minutes. It was my slowest half by 44 minutes, but I wasn't trying to go fast - just complete it. At just under 3 months postpartum I have not had time to properly train for a half marathon and my mileage is nowhere near where it should be for running a half marathon. Which I could tell. It felt good to push myself, but I do not have the endurance to run even a 5k at one go. Especially since I was on the treadmill. I find it easier to run outside than on the treadmill, and this entire race was run and walked on the treadmill. All told,  I was able to run just under half the distance and I walked the rest.

So why did I run this race? To add a virtual half to my 40 by 40 tally.

Part of the 40 by 40 goal is to complete a variety of races and distances, and a virtual half fits the bill, and the cumulative distance feature made it doable at my current fitness level. Plus I need to add in races where I can so I can catch up to where I should be since I got a slow start. I was about 36 weeks pregnant when I had my 38th birthday and started my 40 by 40 goal. Not exactly the best situation to be starting an ambitious goal, but I'll take what I can get.

The Hill Valley Half is the 4th race towards that goal. I have two more planned for this month, two in November, and one or two in December. That will bring my total to 9, possibly 10, races by the end of the year. Add in the New Year's Day 5k, and I'll be at 10 or 11 races at just over 6 months in. 10 races will put me at quarter of my goal in about a quarter of the time allotted. Not bad when you consider my slow start that had me at only 3 races completed at the 3 month mark.

40 by 40

	Date	Event	Distance	Event Type
1.	July	4th of July 5k	5k	Pregnant
2.	August	4 Mile Fun Run	4 miles	Road Race
3.	September	All Terrain	5k	Mixed surface
4.	October	Hill Valley Half	13.1 miles	Cumulative virtual

2015 Races

Month	Race Time
Hill Valley Virtual Half Marathon	3:43:00
September 5k	37:36	Almost 10 weeks postpartum
August 4 mile	1:00:18	almost 6 weeks postpartum
July 5k	47:44	38 weeks pregnant
June 5k	41:19	34 weeks pregnant
May 5k	40:05	29 weeks pregnant pushed River in the jogger
April 5k	42:36	28 weeks pregnant pushed River in the jogger
March 5k	35:32	22 weeks pregnant
February 5k	33:55	20 weeks pregnant
January 5k	33:25	12 weeks pregnant