Better with age?

Not so much.

I’d really, really hoped to PR the Richmond race. Didn’t happen, not by a long shot. Total time was 2:51:40 – more than a minute/mile slower than my first (and best) half-marathon in April, 2007.

I weigh 20 pounds more than I did a year and a half ago. I’m sure that’s the – um – bulk of the reason for the less-than-optimal performance. Training didn’t go as well as it could have either.

Here are the splits (sorry for the crappy screenshot):

I forgot to turn the Garmin off at the finish line, so that purple-shaded last lap isn’t correct.

I recommend the race, if you’re in the Richmond, VA, area next fall. The course is lovely, winding through some beautiful old neighborhoods and the biggest hill is the long one going down as you approach the finish line. The promised music-every-mile didn’t happen, but the weather forecast might have had something to do with that.

The forecast was much worse than the actual weather. I’d taken arm warmers and a hat (I never run in a hat), and I bought gloves at the expo. Turned out to be a warm, humid, windy morning but the predicted thunderstorms had already blown through by the start of the race.

Both of my running companions finished, as well – my husband’s cousin’s wife’s 16-year-old daughter had entered as well, and we crossed the line together. Her mother was 20 minutes behind us, happy to finish and on a runner’s high the rest of the day. They both made the race a lot more fun for me than it would otherwise have been.

I was 31st out of 52 in my age group – and I was very happy with that.

Now on to the rest of my life. My husband wants me to “retire” – I don’t know about that, but I do know, from experience, that race training and weight loss are mutually exclusive, at least for me. So weight loss is now my primary focus. Clean eating and consistent exercise are the order of the day, and the exercise will most likely be walking. I promised I wouldn’t train for or run another race for a year. That oughta be enough time to a.) lose the weight and b.) convince him that I can run a full marathon – a venture to which he is comPLETEly opposed.

The rest of the rest of my life involves quite a bit of travel to see very dear people who are very sick. One is my dad – I’m heading back to Florida Tuesday (taking two days to get there) and will stay for at least a week, although it’s kind of open-ended. The other is in Indiana and, depending on my dad’s situation, I’m supposed to be with her the first week of December.

Blogging will be spotty for the next couple of weeks, but I’ll try to post occasionally. Thanks for reading, whether I’m here or not. Your encouragement has always meant so much to me.