"Just" a Half Marathon?

I had a funny conversation with a co-worker of mine yesterday evening. He is based out of a different office and was in town visiting so a bunch of us went out for dinner. He had sponsored me when I trained with TNT this past fall and asked if I had any other marathons coming up. I told him I didn't have any planned for the time being and that I was just running a half marathon on Sunday. He paused and commented that it was funny that I called it "just" a half marathon, since for most people that was a big thing that they had to train for. I realized he didn't know about Disney so I explained that I had just run a full marathon three weeks earlier so I was just mooching off of that training.

It did make me laugh to think about how much I've progressed in the last few years to get to this point. I casually attempted a 5K back in 2002 with not much running experience and finished in 0:37:23, a 12:06 pace. I didn't pick up running again until three years later in 2005. This time, I "trained" a bit more and signed up for my first "real" 5K event. I was so nervous! I think I was hoping to finish in around 31:00. I was so thrilled when I came in at 29:28, a 9:30 pace. A "big" improvement from three years earlier! That's when I started going all gung-ho with running as I ran my first 10K two weeks later finishing in 1:00:42, a 9:47 pace. I ran another 5K a few weeks after that. The day before the race, my friends asked me if I was nervous. I responded, "Not really - it's just a 5K." And they loved that! I could barely run one mile before and now I didn't think much of running three! (BTW - I got a new 5K PR during that race finishing in 27:37, an 8:53 pace, which I have no plans of breaking anytime soon.)

I then trained for my first half marathon the following year. During training, my cousin and I signed up for a 10K. At this point, we had already built up our mileage to 8-10 miles so were we worried about this race? Nope, 'cause it was just a 10K! :)

And now here I am, casually mentioning my half marathon this weekend. How time flies! Don't get me wrong - I still get nervous in getting ready for any race. That's part of the fun! But it's nice when you've conquered the unknown. OK, maybe not conquer, but you've been there, done that, so it's not as intimidating as it once was. Also, I'm pretty sure I will never toss around "just a marathon" kind of nonsense. Those suckers beat me down every time.

Anyway, I guess I'm ready for the half on Sunday! Here's how the rest of my training went this week:

Tuesday - 4 mi run

Mile 1 - 10:10
Mile 2 - 9:58
Mile 3 - 10:33
Mile 4 - 10:20

Total miles = 4.01 with 10:16 avg pace

Wednesday - Tempo Run

Warm-up (15 minutes) - 1.43 miles with 10:30 avg pace
Tempo Run (10 minutes) - 1.07 miles with 9:18 avg pace
Cool down (5 minutes) - 0.37 miles with 13:28 avg pace

Total miles = 2.88 with 10:26 avg pace

I was going to finish with a 2 mi run on Thursday but didn't get a chance to squeeze it in. I should be good to go though. I'm looking forward to running the race and then enjoying Superbowl treats later on!