So, after months of training (I had to start from zero), I finally did the Seattle Half-Marathon this morning. Time: 2.01′ 🙁 Not even close to the 1.45′ I was aiming for but given the circumstances I am not dissapointed.

It was cold (it was actually snowing at 6.30am, when I woke up, and it’s snowing again now 🙂 but I had LOTS of fun!

Lessons/observations:

• I must have been the only one in the run with a t-shirt. Stupid me. Even at the start line a lady told me that I was going to get very cold throughout the race because (a) I was wearing just a t-shirt (no gloves and no hat) and (b) I was wearing a COTTON t-shirt (HUGE mistake, especially since it was raining). And she was right; I got very cold. I couldn’t even move my fingers when I needed to tie my shoe leases at a couple of occassions.
• I surely needed gloves!
• GLOVES!
• I shouldn’t have added the extra sole support in my running shoes without at least one test run. Around mile 9 I had to stop and take the soles out (lost around 4-5 mins as my cold fingers were not operating at all :-). I already had huge blisters on both feet. Despite the pain I continued running though.
• Next time I’ll try to sleep properly the night before. I had visitors staying over so we stayed up until late watching movies and then I slept on the couch.
• Definitely train more if I want to make the 1.45′ mark.
• At the end of the run I felt great. I didn’t feel out of breath at all and my legs were still obeying the command center upstairs, which is always good 🙂 I can’t say the same about my fingers though! GLOVES!!!
• I think the two energy bars for breakfast helped a lot.
• I should try to be closer to the start line next time. I think I lost lots of time at the first few miles because it was so crowded. But it was all about having fun rather than the time so that’s not an important one.
• I didn’t feel I needed water throughout the race. Hmmm… Perhaps it was due to the rain falling throughout and my cotton t-shirt absorbing all of it 🙂
• Well done to the people of Seattle who were standing at the side of the road under the rain cheering everyone. I was very impressed. Not a huge crowd but still!
• I improved my time of 2.38′ from 10 years ago at the Great North Run. Not bad eh?

I had lots of fun. I really enjoyed the experience and I am definitely doing it again. In fact, I am going to be looking for 10k runs and other half marathons around the area, so I can continue to be motivated to run. My target of 1.45′ remains and I will slowly build up for a full marathon in one or two years!