Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Great Race of Agoura- Chesebro Half Marathon

5 years ago I ran my very first race. I feel very lucky to be able to celebrate that by running not only the same race, but the farther distance of that race, a race that sells out very quickly.

I've wanted to run the Chesebro Half Marathon for a long time now, but either miss the chance or have other plans/races the weekend of the race. This year it landed two weeks after the LA Marathon and gave me the chance to keep running after I finished the marathon, instead of taking a month off completely. Win-win!

5 years ago: 


Today: 


There's not a lot I remember from the race because most of the time I was just trying not to twist an ankle and just wanted to make it to the finish line. Reminder- do not run a trail race without doing at least one trail training run. Whoops!! 

This was by far the most physically demanding race I have ever done, but I am so happy to be able to say that I did it and can cross it off of my race bucket list.











It was an amazing course, with trails from approximately mile 3 until about mile 10.5, including an intense elevation increase. I used my 50:1 intervals until around mile 6 when the trail narrowed and it became difficult to pass people. That, plus the uneven trail made it difficult to continue running. Then the uphill started and I chose to walk when I needed and run when I could without using any set intervals until I reached the top of the big hill, then I started the 50:1 intervals again. 

M1- 12:10
M2- 12:56
M3- 13:08
M4- 13:21
M5- 13:21
M6- 14:06
M7- 15:25
M8- 17:21
M9- 14:17
M10- 13:35
M11- 14:28
M12- 12:43
M13- ???
Total distance- 13.16 miles
Total time- 3:01:01 (official)
Avg pace- 13:49 (official)

The course time limit was 3:30, so around mile 7 I started to hit my "wall" thinking if the course continued the way it was then the sweeper may not be far behind me, but that thought didn't last long. 

I decided to wear a new tank top that I found at Kohl's and thought was pretty clever.. 


I've been blessed in the back side and have embraced it. Between the people who got it and the people I had to explain it to, I still think there were more people who called me Becky. 

On to the next!!

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