It all works out - Fall City Half Marathon

Snoqualmie Valley in the morning.

It's amazing what being a smart athlete can do! One week later even with full training, my foot feels so much better. A week ago I couldn't bear the thought of a long road run but with the next marathon looming in three weeks, I knew this was the weekend to get it done.  

I'd even had a course picked out for a year.  Last year, I raced the Fall City 10k but my original plan had been to race the half marathon distance. I woke with a mild cold the day before the race and pulled back my goals. I knew I'd wanted to come back to the event so a few days after last year's event, i signed up for the half marathon with a very good early registration price.

Fast forward a year and i'm in the middle of marathon training. yes, a half marathon will work as long as I actually run at a long run pace. But then we also got the good news that K's brother was getting married. It was a pretty quickly planned wedding for various reasons.  The wedding day after much schedule figuring with various friends and family members was going to the be the same day as the race.  Training is as training is. Gotta get it in.  

K was also signed up for the half and was also treating it as a long run. He cheerfully put up with my dragging us out there extra early so I could add on 5 miles before the race. I got back to the start with about 10 minutes to go which was enough time to jog around some more and find the super secret portapotty all to myself and say hello to some other friends running and we were off!

My only goal was to run the first few miles at no faster than 9:30 pace. I'd walk through water stops and just enjoy myself and I did. It's a great course with so much to look at.  The photo above was taken when i was out on course running the early 5 miles. There are flower and veggie farms, mini goats, mini horses, cows and many loud frogs. At various times i saw flocks of geese, possibly cranes and maybe some ravens. 

the course is overall as flat as you get here for races in this area and instead of being a straight road has enough turns to keep it interesting.  At the turn around I picked up the pace a bit and had fun picking off runners one by one all the way back to the finish. I'd not planned on it but the last mile even with the one short (sort of nasty) hill, I got below marathon pace. Oops.  I was feeling good.  I finished, picked up my medal and went right back out for a very slow and sloggy 2 more miles.  

20.4 miles done at a solid long run pace overall. 

We left quickly and got home to eat, shower and I took a bit of a nap. Then we were off to the wedding. It was a lovely sweet ceremony and it was a lot of fun.  I can have my training and some cake too!