New Years Half Marathon: Performance is a Reflection of Preperation

I am always up for a challenge but boy this race was a duzie! After completing the Long Beach Marathon, I was in the best shape of my life and staring the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays square in the face, and in the battle of temptation won over me this year!

I was pushed to my limits in this 13.1 mile race as it had been over a month since I had laced up, but how hard could it be, right!

I was really excited to get back with my partner in crime.  Its been quite a while since we hit the pavement together and it was a good feeling to know that as I was going to get back on track, my accountability parter is going through this journey with me.

My amazing girlfriend was there for support at this race and always!

Corral 7 is where is at! Actually, it was not where it was it.  When we registered 7 months ago we projected we would be done way slower than we thought we would now.  So we snuck into corral 6!

LA was shut down for our party! I think that was my favorite part.  It was so cool!How often do you get to run down middle of the streets of downtown LA on a Saturday night (sober)!

Taking pictures on the run... FAIL! But the first mile was really fun!

Beautiful scenes of Downtown LA to help pull me through the back miles after the most hilly experience of my life near dodgers stadium!

Finished 13.1 in 02:28:45

New Years Race 1/2 Marathon (Los Angeles at Night)

Last night I had my first run of 2014, some of you may have seen the email I sent out that gave you the chance to follow me live during the run.

The run was set to start at 7:00pm from 7th and Grand (the heart of downtown LA) and up to dodger stadium and back, with lots of zigging and zagging and hills… oh god the hills…

This was probably the hardest course I've run with exception to mud runs, climbing over 500 feet in a couple miles, really zaps the legs. I was hoping to finish the 13.1 mile race in a time of under two hours (which would be a new PR) but unfortunately that didn't happen. I finished the race with a time of 2:02:59.0 just under my old PR (2:03:06) for a half marathon, which was the first half of the long beach marathon (much flatter)

My official time can be found here: http://www.geminitiming.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/nyr_half_fl_14.htm (I am listed as 789 out of 3714) people, however, that is based on time of the gun. Not time of the chip, so I think I should be ranked higher.

Photos can be viewed here: http://www.marathonfoto.com/
To find photos of me type "Burkett" in the last name box and click the link for "New Years Race 1/2 Marathon & 5K." At the time of writing this email, no photos are up

The best part about the race was my parents decided to come to the race and surprise me. There I am warming up for the race, I turn around and there is my mom and dad. It was AMAZING that they came down to watch the run. I had originally told them it wouldn't be worth their time because the course didn't double back on itself and it would be boring for them to see me start and finish. But they still showed up!

Birthday Gifts bring renewed Energy

I haven't posted much of anything on here lately, and that's been due to my lack of running, I think I've only done about 8 miles during the month of December. But I definitely plan to start out 2014 with a bang. The first Half Marathon is January 4th, so I will be quick out of the gate with running.

For my 25th birthday, My parents were gracious enough to support my new found love of running and training by providing me entrances to both the Folsom Long Course (70.3 Mile Triathlon) and the OC Half Marathon. Both set in 2014.

Look out 2014! Here I come!