Pink &Plaid Warrior: Two down, one to go!

About this blog

I was diagnosed with breast cancer on June 11, 2010. As a result of my treatment, I have lymphedema in my left arm. I draw my strength from the Lord, as well as my family's Scots-Irish heritage. Our Graham's were a tough and scrappy bunch of fighters on the Scottish/English border. They came to America and continued to fight when necessary: in the American Revolution; the Civil War; and my brother is a Captain in the U.S. Army. My ancestors settled this country against all odds. My great-grandmothers on both sides of the family were pioneer women who settled the West. Along with that heritage, and the full armor of God, I am walking the walk and fighting the good fight.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Two down, one to go!

One of my goals for 2012 was to run three half-marathons. Yesterday, I made it 2/3 to the finish line.

I ran in the Inagural San Diego Half Marathon. It was a bit rough having it scheduled on the morning of the Spring "forward" time change. The race itself started at 7:15 a.m. I was carpooling with a group of runner friends from church, so we met at 5:45 a.m., which meant I needed to get up at 4:45 a.m. Fine and dandy, except my body thought it was 3:45 a.m.!

It was fun to go down with friends. Before we left the parking garage, we prayed together. The guys left us in the dust (they ran under 2 hours), but I ran with a new friend. We've been a part of the church together for nearly 10 years, have boys the same age, but never had an opportunity to really get to know one another. We ran together.

It was a pretty fun event. My primary goal was to beat my time from the Tinkerbell half marathon, which was 2:17:56. A secondary goal was to keep my average pace under 10 minutes per mile. I'm pleased to report that I acheived both! My overall time was 2:10:31, and my average pace was 9:58. The course was hillier than Tinkerbell, so I feel pretty good about it overall. The last couple miles were downhill, so it felt like we were flying. In fact, at that part, our pace was under 9 minute miles! It felt amazing. When it got hard, I would chant in my mind, "Wings like eagles...wings like eagles....run and not grow weary....run and not grow weary..."

My quadriceps are a little sore this morning. I thought ahead for once and booked a massage for today. That will feel good! I'm going to take more days off of running this time too. Last time, I started back on Wednesday and had some knee issues. I'm going to give my body a chance to recover for a couple days and then ease back into some cross training later in the week.

My next race is the Carlsbad 5000. Isabelle is signed up for it too. I will run in the masters division race and try to PR. Then I'll run for fun with her in the young people race. I need to focus on running faster for shorter distances now. I'm not sure how to do that, but there are plenty of resources out there, especially on Runners World.