It was the morning of the race and we felt refreshed after a great night sleep. After saying our good-nights to the other ladies, Laura and I set-up our beds in the back of Laura's van. Yes, you read correctly. We slept in a van the night before a half marathon and it was probably the best sleep I have ever had before a race except for in my own bed. We had removed all the chairs in the back and borrowed my mother's huge memory foam mattress for her pull-out couch. We woke up around 7 that morning in the parking garage for the race and walked right to the starting line by 7:15am. Smartest thing I have ever done for a race. Last year for this same race, I had to wake at 4am to be at he mall to then be bused to the starting line nearly missing the gun.
Rested and ready to run!
Before and After: Shelyse, Julie, Kristen, and Carmen
(And thanks to Julie's husband Dave for the photos)
Just a few thousand (like 26,000).
It had almost been two years since I ran my last half marathon and personally I love running them. I know running is not everyone's favorite hobby but I quite enjoy it. Half marathons do not exhaust you like full ones and you get to see the best of the routes. My fastest half was around 2:02:30, so my goal for this one was a sub 2 hour run. Even if the time read 1:59:59, I wanted to run under two hours. Well during the race I overheard a guy tell his buddy he was going to run 1:58 so I became his shadow for the rest of the race. He actually started to slow, so I passed him and finished with a 1:55:10. I was on cloud nine! Five minutes under two hours. As Ren and Stimpy would say, "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!"
Now I have a new time to beat...in a few years.
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