So… What Next?

First of all, thank you SO MUCH for your congratulations on my half marathon! It means so much to me. 🙂 And now that I did a recap of the race, I wanted to circle back on a few things:

1.) I felt REALLY well prepared for the race.

I think the training plan that I followed was perfect for me. It was a 10 week plan, consisting of running 3 days a week. This worked really with my full-time work schedule and allowed for some flexibility since I traveled so much during August and September. The plan involved doing a long run on the weekends, starting with 4 miles, and then going up by one mile each week, all the way to 12 miles. I also did 2 shorter runs each week, starting with 3 miles and then upping it to 5 miles by the end. During my taper week, I only did one 4 mile run, and took 3 full days off from running before race day.  I didn’t hit a wall at any point during the race and felt that I prepared my body well.

I think this is a good strategy if you are a first timer like me, and don’t care about how fast you finish.  My goal was to finish the race with no specific time goal, but I think if someone wanted to get faster, they could do this same plan but for one of the shorter runs do tempo/interval training.

2.) I feel really good today.

I think this speaks volumes to how well I prepared my body for the race. Besides being a little bit sore and feeling sick-sick, I do not feel like I would have imagined after running 13.1 miles yesterday. I tried to get up for outdoor yoga today but that didn’t work out because I was too tired, but I plan to try to do Bikram and some other cross training and take a few days off running this week.

3.) So… what next?

It’s kind of a weird feeling when you work so hard to train something and every time you go for a run its all part of the master plan to prepare yourself for a big race. On the ride home yesterday, I started freaking out a bit because I had nothing else on my schedule. I definitely want to do another half marathon, because I know my body can handle it and I think there are a few things I could do different/not be sick that would help me finish faster. I’d like to complete my next half in under 2:10, which would mean cutting a little over 6 minutes off my time, which I really think is do-able. I’m not sure which half I will run or where, but I’ll keep you posted for sure.

Just to get something else on my calendar, I signed up for the Boo! Run for Life 10k on October 10th, which is 2 weeks from Sunday. I actually ran this race last year, and really liked the course so am looking forward to doing it again. I also just feel so much better to have something else on my calendar to train for, even if it is only 2 weeks away! I want to work in some interval training between now and then because I would LOVE love LOVE to finish a 10k in under an hour, and my last 10k I finished in 60min1 second…. no joke.

The other awesome thing I wanted to share was my post-race brunch! Wil, my mom, my dad and I all left the race area and my parents went to the NICU to see my nephews while we went back to the hotel to shower and pack up. Then we met at The Continental which happened to be right near our hotel. I had been there a few times before but never appreciated it as much as today. I’m sure that had everything to do with the fact that I was FAMISHED after the race.

It’s super cute inside with lots of hanging lights and swings (!!!) for seats upstairs.

But what I wanted most was FOOD. I ordered the smoked salmon hash with poached eggs, and got the dill hollandaise on the side without even thinking…

 

I’m a pretty fast eater anyways, but I literally inhaled this entire plate before anyone else was even half way done with their meal… Oops. It was SO good, and when the waitress offered the dessert menu, we couldn’t turn it down… dessert after brunch? Why not.

Wil ordered the cotton candy (watermelon – flavor of the day), my mom got the S’more Cones:

Which were mini cones filled with chocolate cream and toasted marshmallow…… oh my gosh were they good. I had one of those… plus the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup!

Seriously, heaven. It was the best thing I’ve ever tasted and I highly recommend you go to the Continental if you’re in Philly if only for their desserts. This baby had peanut butter mousse inside with layers of creamy chocolate and peanuts on top…. It literally melted in my mouth.

Wow. I’m sort of glad this place isn’t near me permanently because that could be dangerous…

One last thing. If you know me in person (or if you’ve gotten to know me through the blog) it won’t surprise you at all to see how much loot I snagged from the finish area of the race:

9 mini lara bars (chocolate chip cookie dough, cherry pie, carrot cake, apple pie, and chocolate chip brownie flavor), 4 packs of Real Fruit Bites (which I don’t even like now that I tried them), 2 bananas, and 2 things of fruit. I didn’t eat any of those yesterday but now have them at home to enjoy… 🙂

What is the best dessert you’ve ever had?