10/21/08

Race Report - Lowel Half Marathon PR 1:35:00!

This course is famous for being one of the best Boston qualifiers. It's a great course to plot your next PR. I have to admit, I was not at all looking forward to the scenery in Lowell. I did the full in 1998 (to qualify) and remember the course to be very boring. However, this time around the course was changed and I was pleasantly surprised at how far Lowell has come in the last 10 years. It seems to be a very nice town. It was very clean, wide streets, and the people at the race were absolutely fabulous. I would definately consider Lowell again in the future.

We were cold in the AM. I remember going outside to warm up into the wide street and freezing for about a mile. You had to since it was only maybe 42 degrees but was going to be at least 10 degrees warmer later on. Plus, I believe, the less clothes you wear the more threatening you look to your competition and thus more chance of placing since they will have fallen victim and lost confidence in themselves..eheheheh. Think about seeing a woman in a job bra when it's 30 degrees out.. Threatening right??

I planned for 7:15's which is a PR by at least 2 minutes for me. I thought, based on my recent race results I could try for a PR. I had a little self doubt because my mileage has only reached 30 miles ON OCCASSION. I'm really only averaging 25 miles per week. I used to average 40 per week when training for the half. So this was new training territory.

Low mileage, intense workouts, lots of cross training. It worked! I hit my PR on the dot.

After the half we had a ton of fun running with Melissa Bair who was trying to qualify for Boston. We found her running in the last 6 miles and she was going strong. She finished well under her qualifying time! After, we all partyed at my house (see photo above). What a day we had! Too much fun!

3 comments:

maria conley said...

You did it Mel, 1:35 right on the dot. This new training territory is paying off. Thanks for sharing your home with us. It was awesome!

GetBackJoJo said...

I'm so sad I had to miss the Party--the very best part! :( Next time. It was so fun to hang with you for the day, though, and all of our GNRC people. We have such a great group!
Congrats on your PR! You rocked that course!
I thought it was a really pretty, course, right by the river. I wonder why people have sad it's so boring? Give me flat with foliage and a river, and I'm happy! Better then those smelly streets in steamy Chicago!
(no offense, Jen...):)

Jennifer Harrison said...

HAHA! No offense taken....I hear ya! Melissa, great PR and great race!!! :)) Jen H.

Blog Archive