Ironman In Training: Half-Ironman, Check. Kinda.

John & I headed down the Garden State Parkway this weekend to compete in the Bassman Half-Ironman race in the Bass River State Forest - the last race before we do the big one in Arizona on November 23rd. I decided going into this one that I was not going to do the bike part because I've been taking a break from biking to rest my knees. Luckily, the race director was fine with that, and I was able to jump in with John when he got off the bike. He's a little speed racer on the bike though, so I was the third woman to start the run course. And because of that, everyone thought I was just super duper fast and gave me the "you go girl" or "great job, girl" - which made me feel like a complete fraud. To make up for it, I kept up with John's long legs the whole time and went faster than ever before on a long (13.3 mile) run. I still felt like a complete poser crossing the line when I hadn't done the bike part - but I was excited to know how good I could feel running a pace that I won't even come close to touching in November. All in all, a good day yesterday. And happy to have a full rest day today!