New PR! (for my poppy)

Good Sunday Morning!

It is a beautiful (although chilly) morning in northern Michigan!  Yesterday, I had the pleasure of running the Bayshore 1/2 Marathon with my poppy (ie dad.)  The weather was cool and rainy, although the rain didn't actually fall during the majority of the race.  It was actually a pretty perfect day for running weather-wise.  I was really excited for this race because I love running with my pops, and I knew he was in PR shape.  Also, I have run a race at Bayshore for the previous 5 years (2 10Ks, and 3 marathons) but had never done the 1/2 before!

Honestly, the race felt great.  Runners are bussed to the end of the course on Old Mission Pennisula, and then run back.  Having run the marathon the past 3 years, it felt like I had already gotten half of the run out of the way without actually running it!  My dad did great- we were super consistant running splits betwen 7:50-8:15 the whole race and finishing with 1:45:21.  That was over 3 minutes faster than my dad's first half marathon a year and a half ago!  Now I got to convince him to run another to get under 1:45....

Personally, the race felt great because I plan to go out conservatively in Newport next weekend.  I want to have that feeling of feeling really fresh still at the halfway point and be able to speed up from there.  I've gotten much better at negative splitting my runs this training cycle and feel like I understand much better the idea of pacing.  Running with my dad showed me how racing is supposed to feel- like I can keep going faster instead of crashing and burning.  Whether this can play out in Newport remains to be seen, but I feel really good/confident about my strategy after yesterday's half.

Today is a *gasp* rest day.  I'm headed into town to the running shop to look for pictures from the race.  It is cool on the race course because they take pictures and then stick them to the walls in the running shop and let you take them for free!  I would love to find our to commemorate a great run with my pops!  Although there is 20% off at the running shop, which could be deadly for this girl.....

Enjoy your Sunday! :)