2 Half Marathons In 1 Weekend = 2 Medals, a Big Smile And Super Sore

Can you believe that I did it?!?!?!? I ran the Bird In Half Half Marathon this past Saturday, and the Harrisburg Half Marathon this past Sunday. Yep, 2 Halves in one weekend which was a monumental thing for me.

The goal was to take them both very easy. But I ran Bird In Hand more as a race instead of a training run. It was my 2nd fastest time (which I didn't even realize as I was running it). So I possibly could have PRed, but I was just enjoying the run. It was the most beautiful course I've ever run - Amish farm land with hot air balloons floating above us. Most (if not all) of the water stops were by the Amish. It was truly just a great race.

I was playing cat and mouse with this other girl on the course. We both had this look of 'I will die before I let her beat me". At about mile 11ish, I could hear her coming back up to pass me again. In my head I heard "Be smart, you are running another Half Marathon tomorrow. But then I heard myself say, sorry, but this girl is going down". So I turned it on :)

She never caught me again. And I passed everyone ahead of me from 12.5 on that hadn't crossed the finish line. As I turned the corner, this elderly lady yelled out "Pick 'em off honey, pick 'em off". And that I did.

Official time was 2:12:30 - not too shabby for me.

And then I spent the afternoon in bed and puking :( Yep, an exercise induced migraine, and I'm pretty sure I was dehydrated. By around 5:00pm, I was feeling better so I started pushing the fluids, got some food down, and laid out my running gear for the following day.

Sunday I still wasn't feeling 100%, but I felt ok enough to run. I ran the race with a friend. And although around mile 11, we decided it wasn't fun anymore, it was truly a fun filled weekend.

The 2nd race was much hotter than the first. I of course was sore from the day before, and I realized quickly that running on tired legs was much harder than fresh legs. But we did it, and we did it with a smile. 2:33 and some change was our time... again.. not too shabby for me and especially after running a race the day before.

I was asked would I do it again? Yes, if there were 2 Halves that I really wanted to run, and I wasn't concerned about my 'time', I would definitely doing it again. Although I have to add, I am more sore from this than when I ran the Marathon in April.

The soreness is better today, but my ankle hurts. I'm thinking it's tendonitis. So, I'm hoping that it holds out for 9 more weeks of training and through the marathon. I'm taking a step back week this week and taking it real easy. I plan to ease back into my training plan next week.

2 Medals in 1 Weekend... I really never thought I would ever say that!