My First Half Marathon

Yesterday’s 1/2 marathon started out in the rain.  It was around 42 degrees which is perfect to run in, except for the cold rain.

All 407 runners/walkers lined up at 10am to start… and we were off!

We started out strong with a 9 minute mile.  After the first mile we slowed down a bit so that we wouldn’t wear ourselves out.

My dad was there to cheer us on, along with my Aunts Arlene and Arneta.  They came down from Seattle which was so sweet of them to do 🙂

Around mile 3 we were too warm and had to shed our jackets and gloves.   Still feeling pretty good at that point.

Me waving good bye when I should really be paying attention.  The lady in pink pants was telling people to watch out for a post in the middle of the trail.  Luckily mom kept me from running into it.

See that older guy in the short shorts behind us?  Well probably about .25 miles before this picture all of a sudden we felt like someone was running right behind us… really really close.  I turned around and saw this man pretty much on our heels.  Immediately I thought he wanted us to move out of his way, but no that wasn’t the case.  He was using us to break the wind!

When we returned to dad and aunts around mile 6/7, I was starting to feel hungry so I grabbed my banana share with mom.  The man ran past us and probably found a couple other ladies to use.

See the short shorts man is gone.

This was around mile 11.5… we’re so close to the end!  Still smiling 🙂

Until we got to mile 12.  Instantly both my mom’s feet and mine started to hurt.  I was expecting to get some sort of energy boost knowing that I just had 1 more mile to go but it was the the opposite.  I felt sore and tired and was ready for it to be over.

We’re coming around the last bend to the end.

I really wanted to beat the lady in blue next to me so I sprinted to the end and crossed 1 second before her finishing at 2:03:42. Mom finished at 2:03:48 right behind me.

We ended with a better time than I thought we would… just under 9:30 minute miles!  We didn’t have to walk at all, just stopped and stretched a few times.  Sadly with just 2 miles left to go my mom told me she wouldn’t run a full marathon with me… we’ll see.  She said those same words about the 1/2 marathon just 4 months ago.

We went out for lunch after changing into dry clothes, and our Vancouver Lake Half Marathon T-Shirts!

My legs were DEAD and I was walking around limpy the rest of the afternoon.

Today I feel like I’ve got my energy back, just sore legs.  Mainly my left calf which was sore from the hike the day before.  I’m looking forward to my massage this afternoon.

I can’t wait to plan my next 1/2 marathon and look into a full!