I Did It!

On Saturday, I ran my first half-marathon - 13.1 miles. It was mostly on leaf-covered dirt trails hidden in the woods of Big Woods State Park near Faribault, MN. The most exciting part was the start. There were over 900 runners doing a 5K, 10K, or the half. Starting out in that pile of bodies was amazing - it was actually pretty emotional (I thought maybe I'd cry at the start or finish, but nope! It might take a full marathon for that!). I was careful not to start too fast, hitting just under a 10 minute mile, and I didn't pass a single person for over two miles! Everyone else just kept passing me!

I finished the first 5 miles a little under my goal pace in 47 minutes, and then the hills got big and long and nasty. Mile 9 was particularly difficult, and I think I lost most of my time there. My family was waiting at Mile 10 to cheer for me, and that helped a lot. My parents, Isaac's parents, my daughters, and my husband were all there, yelling and clapping and giving me strength to go on. The last two miles were pretty tough, especially the final mile-long uphill to the finish line which looked really, really far away.

In this picture, you can't really tell, but it's a long, slow uphill.

That was when I saw my support crew had moved to the finish line. Here's everyone except Dad and Beth, who were taking pictures. Sadly, this is the best picture I have of me running. My well-intentioned, sweet, usually responsible husband did not bring the camera I had carefully packed for him to bring. I tell him I'll have to run another one so I can get decent pictures! I think I'm raising my hands to wave in this one. At least I hope I am and not just running weird!
My legs were trembling at the finish. I was wiped out but very proud. My reach-for-the-stars-goal had been 2:10, but my realistic goal was anything under 2:30. I finished in 2:14 (10:16 mile splits) which placed me 99th out of the 166 women. Not bad for my first long race, but I know I can do better next year!