4th times a charm, right?

Hey Ya'll! I'm finally able to post my recap from the Women's Half Marathon this past weekend! Let me tell you, I am SO PUMPED about sharing this news! This was my 4th half marathon. Here are my other recaps:
Country Music 1/2 2010
Women's Half 2010
Country Music 1/2 2011

First off, this has been a whirl wind of an experience. My training was so not how it should be at first. My friend who runs with me developed a stress fracture so no race for her. My other friend who hadn't ran a half and thought she would just train with us ended up doing the half with me! It all changed after the longest run (11 miles) with my brother. Something just clicked and I ran with it (literally :). Here's a little snap shot of how it changed: 8/6/11-8/29/11 my pace was between 14-17:30 minute miles. For my 11 mile over labor day weekend I averaged a 14:57 pace. Now let's see how training went: out of 6 runs, my slowest pace was 13:26 mile, fastest was 13:00 min mile. I am still a little shocked that I can do that! My secret: 1 minute walking, 1 minute running. It just works for me!

 Last year I completed the women's half in 3 hours and 17 minutes. This year I completed it in 2 hours and 50 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 27 minutes, Ya'll! I can still hardly believe it! The night before, Derek and I stayed at Steve and Emily's. We had our yummy carbs and headed to bed early. Our alarms set for 5 and out of the house by 5:30, we were down town right before 6. We parked about a half mile from the starting line so we could warm up. We got to the starting line, used the bathrooms, stretched and waited.

Way far back in Corall 5

This course is HARD! A huge hill in the middle of mile 1 and rolling hills all throughout the course. Atleast one hill per mile. Mile 12 Korean Vets Bridge "I Will Hill" is the toughest part. I am proud to say that Emily and I ran a little bit of each hill. She was the biggest cheerleader for me and I definitely needed it. She kept encouraging me and telling me to look down at my hand "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." or we aren't trying to get under 3 hours, we WILL get under 3 hours. Through several frustrating parts (her foot going numb, the top of my left foot throbbing with pain, her needing to pee, me needing to....ya know, a calf cramp and all) We kept pushing through, kept saying all we need to do is finish this! Friend Heather, boot and all, saw up around mile 4.5, another spot and at the finish line! It was so great to see her cheering us on and supporting us because she knows that you need that encouragement! Our hubbies were real close to the finish line and got some great pics! I cried when we finished the race because the actual starting clock still was under 3 hours ( due to staggered start, we actually didn't reach the starting line until the clock said 7 minutes past.) I couldn't believe that I actually reached my goal!

 There we are! Coming upon the finish!

 YAY!

 The clock still says 2 in the hour space :)

 We did it!

 Medal and Bib

 Medal up close

last years and this years medals in comparison.

All in all, I am so pleased because this course was hard and I finally have a PR under 3 hours! After the race, we headed back to Emily and Steve's for cleaning up, resting, eating eggs and french toast, and watching football. I had a wonderful 90 minute massage thanks to my sweet first graders Christmas gift last year. It was a blissful experience and so relaxing. I needed it desperately. I am still so giddy and excited about the race results! I just hope my foot (probably tendonitis) heals quickly!

Hope ya'll are having a great week so far!