It's been three days since I ran the Mercer Island Half Marathon. Monday (the day after) my calves were a bit sore; I felt pretty good to have gotten by so easily. I had spoken too soon; Tuesday was worse. My thighs hurt a bunch. I could still go up and down stairs and sit down/get up, but I felt every step. Fortunately, today was much better.
The race organizers posted the results. I finished 1032nd out of 1406 half-marathon runners, 634th out of 765 men. Even though I was really just aiming to finish, these results bummed me out at first. I was used to finishing at or above the mid-point in the 5K runs I've done previously. However, I realized that there are probably fewer casual runners in a half-marathon than a 5K. That made me feel a little better. Need to stroke my fragile ego in any way possible. I would have needed to run over a minute a mile faster to finish in the top half; that's pretty close to my 5K pace. No way. (Not yet, anyhow.)
Bruce Reply
You had a great day, no question.
You're right about there being less casual runners. Not only is it a half marathon (which requires real training as you know), it was a tough course and fairly early in the running season. This all means you were running with lot more hard core runners than the local 5K race and probably some of the easier HMs later in the year.
Mary Ann Reply
Congrats on a great finish! It's true that the pain doesn't hit you right away, but you should be okay after a week. I hope this achievement convinces you to do a marathon soon! :) How about the Viginia Mason one in July?
Tony Reply
Thanks for the comments. I don't think I have a marathon in me right now. The additional training time is just too much I think.
Rob Reply
I don't think human beings are designed to run that far and don't think I could pull this off anymore at 31. With hills? Crazy. You have definitely joined an elite group. I wonder if you can find an absolute measure of fitness to put this in context?