Saturday, September 20, 2008

Hands on House Half? Maybe...

Justin swung by my house early this morning to go on an 11 mile run. I rarely get to do my long run with someone else and I rarely get to show someone else my running routes around my house. So, this morning's run was a special treat. Not to mention... I had forgotten how fun it is to run longer distances with a friend.

Justin is training for his first half marathon, the Hands on House Half. Coincidentally, this one was my first as well. It's in Lancaster and it is super hilly. But, a nice course for sure. So... we went out for our 11 miler and it quickly turned into a pace test. It was a cool morning, the kind that you wish appears on race day. And, we really took advantage.

After a few miles, it was clear that neither of us planned on slowing down and we were really going to put in a quick time. But, neither of us expected the time that we ended up putting in. We finished our 11 miler in just under 9 minute pace @ 1:38:24 (8:57 pace to be exact). And... maybe even more interesting, we got stronger as we went. Our last two splits were 8:40 and 7:59.

So... it got me to thinking. Maybe I'll run Hands on House as well. It is on October 4th. So, the baby should be here by then. And... it will be something good to do with all this fitness that I had built in the marathon training. It appears as if I'm more than ready for a half in terms of distance/fitness.

5 comments:

Sarah said...

I say do the 1/2 - you only live once :) And great pirate joke by the way!

stevespeirs said...

sounds like a plan....do it!

Eric Gervase said...

Yeah... I think you're both right. Provided the baby cooperates, I'm there.

Andrew is getting fit said...

Go for it!

Mo said...

Definitely do it. Great to have goals that inspire your running. And free t-shirt, and the atmosphere at a race is invigorating. Bring the babe, too!