Running progress

I completed my first half marathon! It wasn't in my "dream" time of 10-minute miles (and honestly, that may never happen), but I finished it, and jogged the whole time except for water breaks.

I jogged the first eight miles with my coworker, which actually made the time pass really well. She and I almost never jog with other people, but we're about on the same pace and we encouraged each other to keep going.

I had been having some knee pain since a bike ride and walk the previous weekend, otherwise my body felt very conditioned and ready for the race at the pace I was going. The knee really hurts today, so I'm trying to take it easy.

The distance was a good challenge, but man, I don't think I could do a marathon. (Maybe I will look back at this post in a few years and laugh.) I will never say never, but I can't imagine training for, and completing, much more than I did yesterday.

Pondering the decisions that
brought me to this place

I've got the Soldier Field 10-miler next weekend, and I'm a little nervous about the knee. Then I've got a sprint triathlon in June and an international distance one in July.

What I liked about the half marathon training was the progressive challenge of the training weekends, and the ability to eat a lot. However, I need to eat less than I think, because that kind of thinking led me to gain a couple of pounds back. And running will be easier and faster without those couple of pounds!