Yukon Do It 2017 Recap

This weekend I ran one of my favorite races: the Yukon Do It Half Marathon. This was my 5^th year running this course. I was prepared to PR and had trained through the fall/early winter. In the past, I ran this race with little training, so I was expecting to have a much better race experience.

Waiting in the car before the race

Spoiler alert: the race did not go as planned, and my pace was derailed around the half-way point as the course became hillier. The course was beautiful though, and I would gladly run it again! 

Miles 1-4

Pace: 9:52, 10:00, 10:01, 10:00

I was feeling great. I was right on pace to PR. It was a little windy out, and I was a bit cold, but other than that I was feeling great and having fun!

Miles 5-7

Pace: 10:09, 10:35, 11:28

The route became a little hillier. I told myself it was fine to have my pace slow a little when I was going uphill, but I needed to pull it together after the turn around point and get back at a 10 min/ mile pace.

I saw Craig at the half way point which was fun!

In Manchester State Park near the half-way point

Miles 8-11

Pace: 10:33, 10:45, 11:25, 11:17

The next few miles were ok, but my pace wasn’t as fast as I would like. My legs felt fine, but my hips/core were really aching. I began to focus on finishing each mile, regardless of pace.

Miles 12 and 13

Pace: 12:12 & 11:40

I just needed to finish. My hip muscles were super painful. I took a couple walk breaks and that helped a bit. I was a little upset that the finish was so difficult. I was even tempted to quit. I don’t think I have ever run a 12-minute mile in a race before.

Final Sprint

34.1 seconds

I pulled it together and was able to sprint to the finish. I just wanted the race to be over!

Overall, my time wasn’t terrible (2 hours 20 minutes), but I was definitely prepared to run faster than this. While I'm not completely satisfied with my finish time, I am proud that I have been consistently running about 3 half marathons per year for about 5 years now.

I needed to sit immediately after I finished

From this race I learned 2 lessons:

1.  I need to work more diligently on my core strength to better handle a faster pace and going up hills.
2. I should not taper until a week before a half marathon. I skipped a long run two weeks before the race because of travel, and I think I lost a bit of fitness over that time.

      The good news is I have another race in March. With a few more months training, I think I can make improvement and PR.

Thank you to my husband who woke up early so I could run in the cold!