I did it - my new Half Marathon PR - sub 2:30!

It was my American River Parkway half-marathon last Saturday - the 2nd official one of my life. I was so excited about it since Shavi was going to pace me. I wanted to do it in less than 2:30 hours, which meant a pace of 11ish. I had been training for the last 3 months at 12:30 pace but I was least worried with Shavi pacing me. I had been hydrating myself very well since the last week to avoid cramps; resting myself well; loading myself with carbs 2 days before; keeping it light the day before and tried to have a good sleep as well.

The race day was supposed to be very warm - high in late 70's and low in mid 60's. And believe me, it was hot!! I could feel it, especially in the last 2 miles when there was no tree-shade. Since I was running at a faster pace than my normal pace, I could hardly talk, indicating that I was indeed running at a faster pace.

I am thankful that Shavi paced me. It gets so much easier when someone else is doing the pace calculations for you and watching the garmin gps for you, carrying the water for you and even stopping at the aid stations to get you water. I had the mp3 player but I hardly used it. One thing that really helped was when Shavi poured cold water over me. It was such a relief in the sun even. I was resisting to water earlier but after Shavi did, it felt sooo good! I did not take any restroom breaks, took a few 1-min walk breaks when I felt super-tired.

I was very happy on completing the 13.1+ miles in 2:26 hours, which was an improvement of 15 minutes from my last half-marathon time. Unlike the last time, my shins did not hurt, only the calves were tight. In fact, I felt so good after the run that the next day we went on a strenuous trail of 3 miles in Muir Woods, San Francisco. At the end, I would say that training, hydrating and massages helped me achieve my new PR (Personal Record). And hopefully this does not stop here....

For this run, I cannot thank Shavinder enough!:)

Here is the Garmin graph for my run: Garmin