tomoka half marathon, and one month to go

One month from now I'll be in New York for the Long Island Marathon!  Medals were revealed yesterday on their Facebook page- they're just a little different between the 10K one, the half, and the full so I'm excited about that.

I've been working on my pacing, trying to get my time under 4:30.  The Disney marathon clocked in at 4:37, and of course I was on my 4th day of running so I'm hoping 4:30 is easy to beat.  I changed my interval times from 4 min run/1 min walk to 4 min run/30 seconds walk. Success!  My time went down from 10-10:30 mile average to 9:15-9:30 average!  

I ran the Tomoka Half marathon on Sunday morning- it was my longest run with the new intervals and I finished with energy and feeling really good in just under 2:03!  The Tomoka race started at 7:30, the sun wasn't quite up yet when the gun went off.  I really liked that race!  The drive up to Ormond Beach to the Casements (summer home of John Rockefeller) wasn't bad, parking was easy, but it was a frigid 44 degrees!  I took a bag to check and kept my coat on until about 5 minutes before the start.  The race was small, I think only like 800 of us ran the half so I was able to drop my coat back at bag check and squeeze in to the 9 min/mil pace section with time to spare.  

It was so cold!

The race course was wonderful but the first mile was pretty crowded along a residential street.  I didn't start my intervals right off because there was literally nowhere to walk.  I hopped in and out of driveways and curbs to keep moving, trying my best to warm up!  My fingers were frozen for about the first 3 miles.  The course took us up and over the bridge over the Halifax river then turned north along Beach Street toward Tomoka State park.  The bridge was alright- it was definitely a challenge and I knew it was going to surface again toward the end of the race. I stopped for some photos (Disney-style!)

 Start line!

 View from the top of the bridge over the Halifax River

 Headed down the other side!  

Sunrise along Beach Street- you can see the bridge we just went over on the right!

The course was flat, shady, and beautiful to look at.  On the east side of the street- million dollar homes on the waterfront.  On the opposite side...well, regular homes.  There were plenty of water stops and because most of this was as out-and-back course, we just hit the water stops twice.  My main goal for the day was to stay relaxed, keep my shoulders loose, run the intervals, and just see where it got me.  At first, my intervals kept me in pace with the same group of runners- I'd run, pass them, then on my walk break they'd pass me.  However, the intervals won out because I eventually passed big groups of people who were just straight running.  I was glad to eventually get away from a guy who kept hacking and spitting every 10 seconds.  No joke.  It was gross.

The course turned around inside the Tomoka State Park- still shaded by giant trees dripping with Spanish moss.  The temperature had warmed up to Perfect degrees.  After the turn-around, I started watching for Kylie over the next few miles going in the opposite direction.  I knew she'd be toward the back of the pack but I never saw her.  I found out later that she unfortunately didn't make it to the race at all that morning.  The bridge showed up again at Mile 12.  I was wondering where the hell the course was going to end because the math in my head wasn't working out with where I thought the finish was and how far I had to go.  The route was converging with the full marathon route so I was passing mile signs in the 20s interspersed with the 11 and 12.  It made my brain hurt trying to figure it out.

I made it over the bridge (perfect time for a loooong walk break!), then off to the side, underneath the bridge (ohhhh, that's where we're going!), then through a little riverfront park area and across the finish line across the Casements park area from the start.  

 Representing Dopey!

I really have zero complaints about this race- perfect weather, lots of water stops, BLUE gatorade (not yellow, thankyoujesus), and friendly people.  Plus, the scenery!  Even the post-race was nice- the usual bananas, donuts, and they even had pizza!  After I got back home and cleaned up, Scot and I went down to Epcot for some more Flower & Garden Festival food, then over to the Magic Kingdom to check out the new complete Hub construction.  As usual after a race, I stuffed my face all day and it was divine.  Btw, there's cheeseburger spring rolls in Adventureland and they're basically deep-fried cheeseburger and scrumptious.