Jerusalem Half Marathon - WooHoo!

Wew!  It's over - and it was most definately a tough one.  After having run the Marathon in January, I would  have thought nothing could be as hard as that.  Well, this year, the Jerusalem race went to a full Marathon, with of course, a Half and a 10K race.  Not only that, but they changed the course.  I thought the hills were bad last year.... this year I felt like we were running up hill for half the race and down hill for the rest.  In fact, I don't even remember if there was any straight away...

Here is the elevation graph from my Garmin.  I'm serious, no straight aways.

The day started off extremely cold - 8c - with the chance of rain!  I actually felt like I was back in Canada, that's how cold it was!  But I bundled up, and shed layers as needed.

My husband and Daughter in Law

There were 10,000 runners today.  1,500 did the full Marathon and the remaining 8,500 did the Half Marathon and 10k race.  Both my husband and daughter in law did the 10K - their first races ever!

I felt in the two weeks leading up to the race that I was not well rested, and my legs simply felt tired and sluggish.  Unfortunately, that's how I ran today.  From the start I did not feel comfortable with the race.  I planned on a 6:00 pace - but couldn't get anywhere near it do to all the hills.  In fact, by 7km I knew that I could not pull off a PR, and would be happy just to finish close to my previous time. 

Hard.  Simply hard.  The climbs seemed endless and it was so difficult to stay motivated.  I will admit to walking 3 times, each for about 20 seconds, and I had to stretch my legs at 15km.  By the time I came close to the finish, I felt like I did at Tiveria.  I was exhausted.  Thankfully my hubby came out to run in the last 200 meters with me!  Time - 2:18:17 - three minutes slower than last year, oh well!

Crossing the finishing line with my husband

All in all I'm happy that I ran, and mostly that my family joined in and had such fun.  I have another Half Marathon in two weeks, in Tel Aviv, where my son will run his first 10K.  Hopefully I'll be more rested.

Post run glory!

Best,

Jenny



Time Flys & A New Puppy

My time flies....

I haven't been blogging lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been training... I've just been very busy!

Actually, this Friday is the Jerusalem Marathon/Half Marathon.  I will only be running the Half this time.  Remember, only one Marathon every nine months... lol.... at least for now.

I've been feeling tired and sluggish lately.  I'm not sure if it's because we're nearing the end of 'training season' or because the weather is starting to heat up - and that means dehydration, etc.  Either way, I'm pushing through the last of my racing training and after this week's Half Marathon - I have one more in Tel Aviv in two weeks.

These next two races are special because my husband and daughter in law are each doing the 10K race in Jerusalem, and my son will do a 10K race in Tel Aviv.  I'm so thrilled that they want to race - I just hope that they continue to run for their health too!

We've also added a puppy to the family, Penny is her name.  She is a yellow lab - the same breed as our current dog Nella.  Nella is going into her 13th year, and is pretty old.  We wanted her to model a new puppy, and the chance for a pure bred Lab came up, so, now we're into puppy training too.  I plan to train Penny to run and train with me.  Penny's mother runs almost daily with her owners, and I hope that good running genes will run in the family.  Certainly I've got a lot of research to do.

Best,
Jenny