OK, Not! That was my preparedness for the Detroit 1/2 Marathon I did in e middle of October. My longest run leading up to the race was a 9.3 miles.......back in July. Yikes! But I did the race last month with the sole goal of finishing uninjured.
You see, my 17 year old nephew has been running for a while now. His first 1/2 was back in April and he finished in just over 2 hours. We were supposed to run the full marathon last month but since I had been really slacking in my training with my new job responsibilities, I switched to the 1/2. When I talked to him, he had been doing some longer runs, but his weekly mileage was still under 30 miles. Not really what you need for a full marathon. He also registered for the 1/2.
We stayed together for most of the race. The poor boy didn't really get it when I said I was slow and was planning to run/walk the entire distance. I could see he was itching to run during every walk break and urged him to go ahead several times. He did stay with me for the first 9 miles. The last time I urged him to run ahead, he asked if I was serious. My answer was "Go! Have fun!" with a huge smile on my face and he charged ahead. I was so happy to have his company thus far, and probably woundn't have faired as well if I had been going it alone.
As it turned out, I ended up walking most of the last 5K. I remained injury free and was able to make the 8+ hour drive home the next day. So this year I spent my birthday weekend enjoying the company of my sister and her family and run/walking a race I was completely unprepared for. All in all, a great way to spend the weekend!
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