My Half Marathon

almost there

crossing the line

with my girls that were cheering me on!

Okay sorry Trisha it took me so long to post this! But at the end of August I can a hlaf marathon which is 13.1 miles! I trained for 6 weeks for the race! I probably should have started earlier but I was in South Carolina and it was too hot and humid there and to say the less I was really busy while I was there. So I trained inside and outside for the race the longest practice run I did was around 10-1 miles the week before. So a couple of days before the race i tried stocking my body with water and eating lots of carb and little protien and little dairy. The night before the race I took it really easy and tried not to over do my self so that I would not be so exhausted that night. we'll maybe i under did myself because I could not fall asleep that night. I went to bed at 8pm and I was still awake sometime after 1am and I had to get up at 4am to get ready and be there on time to get to the starting line before the race. I was so tired! I ate and energy bar that was not so great and a yogurt. I got to the race on time and it was still dark out side. There were over 2200 people that had signed up for the half and about 2000 started! even though I had the lack of sleep I was ready to go I had trained and was pumped to start my first race. I want near the front but somewhere between the middle and front. I remember looking back before the start of the race and seeing all those people and thinking wow that is so many, and thinking atleast I won't be last. I did really well for the first 6 miles. A little tough but I was going strong and pumpimping it down the few hills that were there. around mile 9 it was getting alot harder probably since i didnt train much past that. I did have energy gels that I used every 3 miles which helped alot, but mile 11 was a killer and I was such a struggle to keep my self moving but I had a goal and wanted to come close to it so I knew i had to keep running. The last mile I had to walk a couple of paces here and there so that I could make it but the last mile I jogged. On the way to the finish line during the final stretch there was one girl on the ground with an emt talking to her, she was probably dehydrated or something and the last few meters there was an old man that was recieving chest compressions from the medical workers there and had blood down his face. That was very scary and sad for me to see. I finished with a time of 1:08:41 sec. That was less than a 10 mile which was the max I would allow my self to do in the race . For my age group I was # 144 of 312. Over all I was 1098 of 1985 runners. so I was more than half for my age group from 24-30. So my goal is to beat my time next time. When I was done running my family was there to greet me and my legs were so sore. I just wanted to sit down and my stomach was constantly cramping throught the evening. I was sore for about 3 days. Even with all the pain and work it took, I would do it again. I was proud that I accomplished such a task and even by myself which made it harder. I love to run!