I ran my third half marathon, Rock the Parkway in Kansas City, on April 13th. After running my second half marathon in November, I knew I had to try again to beat my previous time. My fastest time previously was on this course and I really enjoyed all the support along the way, so I knew I had to do it again.

Training 

I am so proud of myself with my consistency in training this time. I was NOT good at training for my previous two races, so I knew I had to up my training this time if I wanted to be faster. Unfortunately, I still didn’t cross-train as much as I would have liked, but I did a lot more core work for my training.

I found a new trail for my long runs and really made it a priority to listen to my body and focus on how I felt while running. I think that this part of the training made me truly enjoy running. I’ve always liked it, but I felt a lot more confident about this method of training.

Splits

Garmin activity

Strava activity (follow me! I’d love to follow other runners!)

 Pre-Race

My only goal was to beat my previous half (Rock the Parkway last year with a time of 2:34). Last year for this race, we had terrible weather and I was very poorly dressed – it started snowing and I was wearing shorts! This time, I made sure to not have to worry about that and wore leggings, a tank top and a long sleeve shirt on top. I had gloves on until about mile four and then got rid of them because my hands were too sweaty. This was perfect and we ended up having great running weather.

Miles 1-8

I was lucky enough to have my dad run with me for this race. This made a huge difference in my confidence, especially near the end. My goal was to stay at about an 11:15/mile pace for the majority of the time, allowing for the inevitable slower miles and the miles I thought I could stay above that. My dad is insane and didn’t train for this race and ended up doing so well – I think if I hadn’t made him fall back with me, he could have run a 2:15 race at the very least. I felt good until about mile 8. I had a few fruit snacks here (they were handing out Gus, but I didn’t want to try one for the first time during a race) and that helped some with my energy levels. At this point, I was only drinking Gatorade at the aid stations.

Miles 9-13

I felt okay, not great, until I hit mile 10 and had to keep walking more and more. My mom called me at one point (can’t remember which mile!) and helped encourage me. This was where my dad really helped me as well. I kept cramping up and everything just felt so stiff but he just kept telling me to run until the next sign, the next driveway, etc. I walked a TON during mile 12 but wanted to run as much as possible for the last mile and ended up powering through to the finish.

Post-race

I finished this race in 2:32:45 – my fastest race ever! Surprisingly, my pace was at an 11:40/mile average, only 10 seconds faster than my first half marathon. The weather made a huge difference in my attitude and confidence. I also ran a lot more this race instead of doing the Galloway run/walk method, and I was really proud of that.

Afterward, they had chiropractors doing free massage work. This was awesome that Rock the Parkway provided this and although my legs were certainly sore the next day, I went out and ran the following week with very little issues (some knee pain, but that’s gone now). I’m a notorious heel striker so my hips don’t really open up while running and tend to get really tight. The chiropractor told me that I can correct this by working on more single-leg exercises and glute strength.

What’s next 

I’m still trying to figure out my post-grad plans, so I haven’t signed up for another race yet as I’m not sure where I’ll be next year. It feels weird to not be running without a goal though, so I’m using one of the Garmin Coach 5k plans to get my average pace down and do more speedwork. I am also getting back in the gym and working more on glute and hip strength as the chiropractor said I should. I’m traveling through the month of June and don’t know if I’ll be able to run, so I’m trying to just run for the fun of it while I can. I’m running on Jayhawk Boulevard on my main street down campus as much as I can before I graduate too.

xo, Hannah