i did it! i finished my first half marathon of the year and PR'ed!! finished in 2:32:11. it really was my best race ever! the majority of my races are done with TNT as a part of the leadership team which usually requires helping the participants do their best. while i try to do my best, i usually find myself just enjoying the race and the company-- not really pushing through. but this race, i gave my all! i ran when i wanted to walk and i sprinted when i thought i couldn't run anymore--it was awesome!
race was in houston; went with my boyfriend, 2 of my TNT teammates who ran & our cheer squad (TNT alumni). i wish i had pictures to share, but the boyfriend stayed w/my camera :( will post soon!
race began at 7am, my friend scott and i started together as we were running the half and our other friend vincent ran the full (with an awesome time of 4:20). the course was congested the first 3 miles so we ran a pretty comfortable pace-- i was able to do these without intervals. after that my buddy was going a little too fast for me to hang on so i told him he was free to leave me. :)
behind him was the 5 hour pacer for the full marathon, so that meant 2:30 for the half which conveniently was my goal! i held on as long as i could, ran to catch up, passed her a few times, then lost her completely. the miles seemed to just peel away as the spectators and the course were awesome!
i met my boyfriend and cheer squad at mile 8.5, i didn't know exactly where they were but knew they would be around there so i did not stop to do intervals again- i knew they'd be watching! they were awesome and just the motivation i needed to run the rest! i felt myself running a little faster and saw buddy scott in the distance, i caught up to him but still could not hang on.
i met him again around mile 10 or so, he was now hurt with a pulled hamstring so was running slower. we kept going back and forth for the rest of the miles and with one mile to go we were at 2:20, i told him my goal is 2:30 i'm not sure i can do it but i'm sure as hell going to try! this would mean running a 10 minute mile, i would have to solely rely on prayer to do this! :)
i ran as hard as i could, then had to walk a bit, then ran hard again, then walked again all the while scott was behind me keeping me in the distance running hard when i walked and trying to catch up to me then said i was going too fast so i was pretty confident i was going to beat him running a comfortable speed the last half mile. that was my new goal since i wasn't sure if i was going to make it at 2:30. well, that sucker snuck up on me out of nowhere and flew by me. i was not having it, i sprint the fastest i had ever run in my life! he came in prob just a half second before me, i really hope they got that on video of photo because that was truly a moment i would like to see! for the first time at a race i was not concerned with my photo finish, all i wanted to do was meet my goals! half a second short of one goal and 2 minutes short of another, i still call that pretty darn good! :)
oh, did i mention it rained the entire time too? real bummer but it was still awesome!
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LAST DAY TO ENTER MY DRAWING IS TODAY!
ENTER HERE I GOT SOME GREAT ITEMS DONATING INCLUDING 2 ALLIED RUNNING MEDAL HANGERS, A RACE BIB BOOK, BONDI BANDS & TMB ENDURANCE BANDS, $100 TO FLEMINGS! AND BEST OF ALL, BEING PART OF SAVING LIVES AS THIS DRAWING BENEFITS THE LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY!
I hope you will donate today either in honor of someone fighting cancer, in memory of someone who has been lost to cancer, or in appreciation of yourself or others you love not affected by cancer. Until there is cure, there is no guarantee that our lives will go untouched by cancer.
THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED THUS FAR! COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOUR HELP! **also, there is a change in the time, the drawing will end 8pm central time instead of midnight***
THANKS A BUNCH!
