- 2:00:58 -

That was my time as I crossed the finish line of the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon this past Sunday.

Remember how I told you that I really, really, really wanted to finish this race in 2 hours?! A time, which by the way, has been like my life goal of 1/2 marathons finish times?! (Since my first 1/2 in 2009 that is.) And remember how I was super nervous about being so close to getting there but possibly coming up short?! You guys, I made it. I actually met the goal! And it was one of the toughest races that I have ever done.

(In the pre-dawn hours, about to throw on my poncho and get out of my car.)

I'll be honest, in the last 6 years since I started running long distance races, I've rarely if ever actually tapered. I've never trusted my fitness level enough to give myself a week or 2 off from training before a race and I usually just kept building mileage until I was running 2-3 miles less than the race distance only a week before the race. Yes, it goes against every expert training advice but it seemed to be working okay for me. I was running at my usual pace and not suffering injuries so I just kept this same routine.