Well, despite my lack of training for this race, I did surprisingly well. I set a new PR (personal record) and beat last year's time by 4 minutes! Of course, I'm not very fast, but I felt like I kicked butt! My official chip time: 2:14:56. Average pace of 10:18/mile. I finished 800th of 4,150 people running the Half and in the top half of my age group (25-29).The weather was pretty chilly, although not as bad as it was the day before. I wore my long sleeved shirt throughout the whole race. No sunshine, unfortunately, but it wasn't too bad. The course was so much better this year than last year. We even got to run across the Highway 370 bridge over the Missouri (I think) River. Pretty exciting. I ran the entire distance, no walking! I started feeling a little tired around mile 7, but ate my orange jelly beans (which were damn good) and had a burst of energy that got me through the next few miles. Last year I had the Gu, which just about made me toss my breakfast. I'll be sticking with those beans from now on.
Ryan and Bonnie found me around mile 10 and I was still feeling great...amazingly. This was about the time I crashed last year. I've never seen Ryan's smile so big! It made me feel great. He rode his bike along with me for a few minutes taking pictures and encouraging me, which cheered me up considerably. Especially since the girl beside me told me how awesome that was and what a great boyfriend I had. :) Yes, I do.
A volunteer at the last water station told me that we were at mile 12 and to barrel it out until the end...which I attempted to do. I kicked it up a notch for about a half mile and then saw the 12 mile marker, which meant I still had over a mile to go. At that point I think I slowed down a little, allowing those I had just passed to catch back up with me. Damn. The last .5 mile was a little painful, but great! I even grabbed a dixie cup of beer right before mile 13! All the shouting and cheering really helped push me right to the finish line, where I picked up my medal and went home!
Today, I'm only a little bit sore. Not nearly as bad as I thought I'd be or was last year. I'm planning on doing a short run tonight to get some of the lactic acid out of my legs and lots of stretches. I'm also ready to start training for my next race, another half in Clayton/Forest Park in November. Wish me luck!