We Run to Stay Warm!

This weekend Doug and I ran our first half-marathon together (and the only race we've run together, other than Hood to Coast). We've been training this fall and were looking forward to 13.1 miles--our first race in Eugene. We discovered the perfect one--Run to Stay Warm, a race sponsored by the Eugene utility company and held as a fundraiser to help offset winter heating bills for local residents. The race was held on the running path that borders the Willamette River, making for a beautiful and scenic race course.

This was Doug's first half marathon and I was so proud of him for his training AND his performance on race day. I knew he had it in him--he finished the race in under 2 hours! The course had a short 1/2 mile out and back spot around mile 9 and as I knew when we passed each other on the path that he was bookin' that day. (We agreed to each run our own race that day so we could push ourselves to achieve our goals). My goal that day was for a PR--it was my 4th half-marathon and I wanted to break the 1:50:00 mark. My last half-marathon was an 8:34 pace and I came in this time with an 8:19 pace, a time of 1:48:00. I was really excited to reach my goal, and even more pleasantly surprised to find that I placed 3rd in my age group that day!

Now that the race is behind us, we're looking for our next goal to work toward. I'm thinking it's time to coerce Doug into training for a full marathon. It's so much easier to train when you have someone else you need to keep up with! We may not run all of our training runs together, but if one of us gets out for a run, the other one feels the need to get out there, too. It's been a fun year of running together--Eugene truly is Track Town USA with lots of great places to run. And I'm looking forward to many more races with Doug.