My 1st half Marathon

Approximately two years ago when I started running I might have made the comment that I wasn't ever going to run a 1/2 marathon. Well. . . this past Sunday I sort of ate my words.

My parents drove over to our house on Friday so they could see the kids. The plans were to head to Knoxville on Sabbath morning so we could go to church with my cousin and spend the day at the zoo. But early Sabbath morning Caitlin threw up. It was a one time thing, but too risky considering the horrible flu going around to consider taking her with us. So Jon stayed home with her. My mom's plan all along had been for her to stay at my house and relax. Her current health issues meant she didn't feel comfortable going to the race with us. So this was to be a relaxing and stress free weekend for her. Daddy, Dominic and I headed out to join my cousins in Knoxville.

We stayed with my cousin Matt and his family on Saturday night. Matt was running his first marathon and Chad (another cousin) was joining him for moral support. The 1/2 marathon and marathon runners ran the first twelve miles together.

The next morning all of the runners got together for a pre-run picture. Dominic wanted in the picture too. "I want in the picture! I'm a runner, because I've run a 5k before." So baby boy joined us.

(Matt, Chad, Gary (my dad), Dominic, and I)

 My sweet Aunt Jan* who watched Dominic for us while we ran. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to come with us.

I was doing really great at this picture. My average pace was about 10 min mile despite the hills. This picture was taken around mile 6.5.

This race was extremely hilly. I was pushing for a 2:22 time since a friend (with similar running times) had run a 2:23 1/2 marathon last year. But this race was quite a bit more hilly than the one she ran and I just couldn't do it. I kept up the time needed until the killer hills in mile 7. After that it was a struggle to keep it under 2:30 which was my goal before hearing her time.

These next few pictures are around mile 8 or 9.

My dad - who did great.

My two cousins who went on to run the marathon.

Me - the slow one.

My sweet dad came back after he finished and ran the last approx. 2 miles in with me. While I wish I was a lot faster, it is so nice to have my dad running with me and keeping my mind off the pain of the last few miles.

Crossing the finish line. The time on the clock is gun time. Since they had us corralled my chip time is a bit faster. Chip time was 2:29:14. So I was close, but not quite to my goal of 2:22.

 

My amazing dad with me at the finish line photo booth.

This was a well planned and orchestrated race. While I wasn't fond of the course, I really liked the attention to detail that was given to the runners. My main issues were my own and not the actual race. I get nauseated if I drink while running. It was a bit warm as the day wore on and so I tried to drink with the expected results. But it left me at race end with a pretty bad case of dehydration. Today is 5 days post race and I'm still recovering. So my plan for the next few months is to work drinking into my training. This is something that definitely needs to change for next time. And yes, there will definitely be another 1/2 in my future. =)

My finishers medallion.

The magnet I've been coveting on my friends cars. Now I have one of my own!

And it really was worth it.

*A huge thank you to Aunt Jan and Uncle Jack who took some of these pictures for us since Jon wasn't able to make it. She had some difficulties to work with and still got some great shots. 

I won't mention the amount of cash I had to lay down to get the others. I'm still wincing!