Suavie Island Half Marathon

Well I actually ran another race. This wasn't a full marathon, it was just a half. I felt much better after this race than I did when I ran my marathon so maybe half marathons are my thing. I was really prepared for this race. I did all my runs in my training faithfully. I was even able to get them in while I was on vacation in Utah. I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. and had my breakfast that I had to force down. It's definitely hard to eat something that early in the morning. I knew I had to do it 2 hours before the race started. I had a piece of toast with peanut butter, apple, and banana. I stayed away from the energy gels this year because when I had one in my marathon I had a very upset stomach the first 6 miles. So as I started the race I felt great I was really trying to keep my first 2 miles at an 8:30 pace. I was feeling great until my hard running coach for the day, Nicole, comes riding up next to me on her bike. She was supposed to do this race but was injured. It was so nice of her to come and still support all her running friends. She told me I needed to start keeping my pace under 8 minute miles. So I picked it up and started going a little under 8 minute miles for the next 4 miles. At about mile 7 I started to pick it up to more like 7:30 t0 7:45 minute miles and was still feeling pretty good. Then at about mile 10 I started to feel a little stomach pain. Luckily there was shade for about a half of mile at that point because it really saved me. I feel that I was developing a bit of heat exhaustion. For the last two miles I started to go back up to 8 minute miles but still kept it under. I knew that I gave it everything I had because as I was crossing the finish line I puked. I hope that wasn't too much information, but it shows how much I truly was pushing it. I finished at 1 hour 43 minutes. I beat my goal time by 2 minutes which I was extremely happy about. Thank you to my friend Valerie for running this race with me and doing a lot of training runs with me to prepare. Also thank you to my friend Nicole who pushed me throughout the entire race. I don't think I would have done it as fast without her. Overall it was a great experience and I could see myself doing many more HALF marathons in the future. Enjoy the pictures. Ignore the huge smudge of mascara on my face. J say's I should like I just ran a race so I am not too worried about the smudge.

Me and Valerie

Camo and Jackson-He loved the wagon

Valerie, Nicole, and I

Camo dancing

I finished!!

I wasn't kidding when I said I felt sick

Camo cheering for me

Almost to the finish line.