On October 16th I ran my 2nd half marathon. I started the race with my friend, Margaret, but she was going out really fast. I stayed with her for about 2 miles and then told her to go on ahead of me. I am glad she did because she ended up averaging a 8:17 pace for the race and I was averaging a 8:47 pace. I felt great the first 6 miles but was going way too fast. I came through my 6 mile split 5 minutes faster than I was supposed to. That would have been Ok if I did not have 7 miles of hills ahead of me. That is right, the last 7 miles were pretty much all hills. Regan had told me before the race, "Don't worry mom for every uphill there is also a downhill." Well, I tried to remember that but every downhill was followed by another uphill so I was having to try and slow down on the downhills so I could catch my breath before climbing the next hill. There was not much reprieve between hills. At about the 10.5 mile mark I was hitting a major wall and did not have anymore water. I had one Gatorade left but I had made it too concentrated so it was making me feel sick. So, I had to run the last 2.5 miles with no fluids. It was very tough and I was wishing Tony was with me to coach me through those last few miles. I was so happy to see the finish line although it was on an uphill too! I finished the race in 1:55:00 and 48th place out of 299 in my age group. So, although it was a much tougher race than my 1st Half Marathon, I was happy to beat my previous time by 3 minutes! I am not sure I will ever run this race again but I do know I want to run more halfs and eventually a marathon.
Feeling good at the 5 mile and waving to my cheering section.
Thanks Mom, Dad, Tony and the girls for cheering me on!
Enjoying my last mile of ease before heading into the hills. This was around the 6 mile mark and I was still smiling. I am glad Tony did not get any photos after the 6th mile because there was no smiling to be had.
This is the view of the hill leading up to the finish...
Yay, finally the finish!!!
We did it!!! Margaret did awesome, this was her first marathon and she ran it in 1:48:36 and finished 19th in our age group. I was so proud of her.
Not feeling so well after the race - faking a smile here.
It was so nice to have my parents there to cheer me on. It reminded me of my cross country days when my parents were always there cheering me on. Thanks Mom and Dad for your support and encouragement!
It was also nice to have my daughters cheering me on. Thanks girls!!
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