Hello Jupiter!

For those that don't know a lot about it, I belong to 2 running groups, Marathon Manaics and Half Fanatics.  They are groups that are centered around the marathon and half marathon distance.  Speed is not a factor(though there are a fair amount of speedy runners in our midst), but rather the number of races that you do in a given period of time.  The base entry level is 3 races in 3 months or 2 in 16 days.  The levels are listed with metals and assigned a number of stars in Marathon Manaics and planets and a number of moons for Half Fanatics.  This weekend, I completed 2 half marathons to move me up to 4 moons to land on Jupiter! 

Beer, bling and cupcakes!

I did the Richmond Half Marathon on Saturday, and the Freedom Half in Norfolk, VA on Sunday(Veteran's Day...very fitting for the Freedom races, in a Navy town). 

Richmond bills itself as the friendliest race in America, and it was a good, well supported race throughout.  Not long into the race, I met another Fanatic and her friend, they were doing 30 sec intervals(run 30 secs, walk 30 secs).  I managed  to maintain that with them for about 7 miles.  After that, I kinda petered out-when we were running, we were doing about 10:30 pace, which is a bit fast for me right now, but it gives me hope that I may be able to work toward that in the future.  The rest of the race, I just ran when I could and walked when I needed to.  My only complaint was AFTER the race...relying on Scratchy(my GPS) to get out of town, lots and lots of blocked roads that resulted in a 50 min tour of downtown Richmond lol. 

Freedom Half in Norfolk was a much smaller race-but still well supported through out.  I opted to do 1/4 mile intervals...run 1/4 mile, walk 1/4 mile.  Actually succeeded in doing that the entire race.  The course was a bit boring(though not scary like Baltimore at times lol), but the police presence on the blocked streets resulted in built in cheerleaders as they were very pleasant throughout the race.  The race had a nice little after party area(though I did hear it was mostly broken down by the time some of the marathoners were finished, which is a shame, hope they address it for next year)...cupcakes, beer and bling...what's not to like about a race like that?

I was a bit worried about not only completing my 2nd race, but how I'd be feeling afterwards and the following day.  I was pleasantly surprised that I felt really good on Sun morning at the start of the race.  I had anticipated walking much more-if not all of it due to being sore from the race the day prior.  I was amazed at how good I felt throughout the race.  Once it was done, still completely in awe of how great I felt.  I was feeling so good in fact that I'm now planning double marathons in March!!

Richmond Half Marathon, race #1 of the double

Freedom Half Marathon, race #2 of the double