Running the town

Hi, October! 'Bye, October!

October was another very busy and excellent month, marked by three main events - my parents came to Denver for a visit, I ran my first half marathon, and I took a trip to Europe (more on that in my next post)!

My dad had a work conference in Denver in the middle of the month, and he and my mom decided to extend the trip and make an extra-long weekend out of it. We had a fantastic time catching up and exploring more of Colorado together (I hadn't seen them both since graduation in June, although I had a weekend with my Dad in Utah in early August.)! We spent Saturday in Boulder, where we took the Celestial Seasonings factory tour (so fun!), wandered the Pearl Street Mall, and had amazing burgers at Mountain Sun. Sunday was more laid-back, since I was pretty tuckered out from the race in the morning, but we had a good, relaxing day together, hanging out at my apartment. My parents enjoyed seeing where my roommate and I are living this year and getting to know our neighborhood a bit. We were also able to get together for dinner (and some pre-Europe work clothes shopping) on Monday and Tuesday night. We tried out some great new spots and, as always, got in plenty of good laughs, as the Tyler family is wont to do. :)

Boulder's City Hall

As blog and Instagram followers will surely have noted, I have been running up a storm here in Denver since the spring of this year. Running a half marathon has been on my Bucket List for several years, and I figured that with graduation, securing a job, and staying in Colorado to adventure, there was no time like the present to check that activity off the list!

I hadn't been on a proper running schedule since the spring of 2013, when I was in France, and even then, that was short-lived... So, I started from the beginning. It's amazing now to see that when I started back in late March, I was going on 2.5-3-mile runs and was so exhausted! Haha. Anyway, I built up my mileage and focused on numerous, shorter runs throughout the weeks through the spring and then started picking things up in the summer with longer runs on the weekends. Once I figured out that running in the heat really sucks and slowed me down, I decided to make the Denver Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in mid-October my goal. And with that, I was off! Training runs started out at Washington Park, until I moved in late July, and then my training runs took me along the beautiful Cherry Creek Trail.

My post-run fuel and my gear - just call me the Turquoise Tornado! Or something... ha.

Pedestrians and Ghosts only on this part of the Cherry Creek Trail. :)

I love running in/and this city!!

Six miles on a weekend, 7 miles the next, 8 the next, then 9, then 10, then 11, then RACE DAY! I spoke with quite a few different people who told me that before their first half, they only ran 8-9 miles max for their training runs. I know me, though, and I'm not a built runner, so I decided to train as hard as I could so that my body would be fully used to long runs. It worked! After the 9-mile, 10-mile, and 11-mile training runs, I was, surprisingly, hardly sore at all (not even the next day or two days later), and only needed a shower and a nap to recover pretty fully. When Race Day came, I was ready and SO STOKED!

I ran 13.1 miles at ~5200 feet of elevation in 2 hours and 7 minutes. BAM. My first half marathon was a great success!! I ran 13 minutes faster than my goal. I must say, I'm very proud of myself for setting the goal, training all by myself, and running the race solo. This was a fantastic challenge for me, physically and mentally, and I'm so glad I decided to go for it!! It was interesting to learn more about my body and feel different parts of my legs get sore at different times in the run. 3-4 miles: my shins hurt. 6-8 miles: my knees hurt. 9 miles: (sometimes) my hips hurt! It's crazy how much intensity our bodies can take if we train, set our minds in the game, and power through. I'm so grateful for my heart, legs, lungs, and every part that has been working hard for me as I've prepped for this. Hooray for exercise and health!!

While I have determined that I do not have any desire to run a full marathon (a half was plenty exhausting, thank you), I would love to run a few more half marathons in the next ten years or so. I'm already planning on taking part in another race, this time back home (and at sea level) in June of next year. I'm hoping to shave a good amount of time off my next run by training at elevation but running the actual race at sea level. We'll see! :) 

Here's to running, youth, good health, Bucket List fulfillment, new challenges, more races, and a great autumn in Colorado! I love this state!