Lots has happened

So, since my last post months and months ago, I've run the Ikea Half Marathon AND the Pittsburgh Great Race, and I'm very pleased with my performance in both. The half marathon I finished in 2:14:35, which works out to 10:17 minute/mile. Not super fast, but I finished the race fairly easily and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Actually had a very nice chat with the woman running next to me from miles 7 through 13.1. I'm definitely looking forward to doing another, since I know I can run it much faster now, as my whole pace has improved a great deal.

The Great Race was the weekend before last, and I smoked my previous 10k time by a good 6 minutes, finishing in 55:17, which shocked the hell out of me since I had to stop and take a walking break right near the end. I just felt like I was going to throw up, it was not pleasant at all. I think I just pushed myself too hard, since my pace was 8:54 minutes/mile, which is pretty freaking speedy for me. Had I not had to stop and walk, I think I might have finished in under 54 minutes, but alas, I'll never know.

So now I'm on the lookout for a marathon to run in January or February. Haakan is going to run the Harrisburg Marathon in November, but there's no way I'll be ready for that (though I probably could do it if I had to, I think it would suck big time and I'd probably injure myself), so I'm looking for something a little bit later in the year. I want to do one before I do Pittsburgh in May, just to have one under my belt. I don't really want Pittsburgh to be my first, given that it's a pretty challenging course, but I haven't found a warm-weather one that I want to run yet. Maybe there's something in the Bay Area or something like that.

On the way to my marathon goal, I ran 10.25 miles yesterday, and I felt pretty good at the end, though I was seriously cold! I definitely need to get some cold-weather running gear - more long sleeved shirts and such, because it's ridiculous for me to be out running and get chilly like that - really puts a damper on the whole thing. I'm fighting some kind of annoying stomach bug, too (Haakan has the same thing), so that's also not helping things. I had miserable cramps the other night after I did 6 miles, but I felt pretty good after my 10 yesterday.