South Platte River Half Marathon!

Today was the day ladies and gents!

I have to say the 1/2 totally took me by surprise, it didn't really hit me until I was actually at like mile 5 that I was really running the half marathon!

The forecast had been calling for rain, wind, and general nastiness for days.

To say I was dreading it would be an understatement.

However, this morning a clear blue sky greeted me!

There was still a lot of wind, but nothing to absolutely horrible.

Dan came to cheer me on, and to keep Jon company while he was spectating.

And I can't forget my favorite fan :)

Thankfully I wasn't running it alone!

Alison (on the left... or I guess my right in the picture) is an awesome women who I have the pleasure of sharing my counseling classes with :)

Vanessa is one of Ali's friends and is HILARIOUS seriously loved meeting her!

representin' DenSem!

The show offs... just runnin' out of control

Moseying along.

I was so proud of myself for starting at my own pace and running my race.

However, it was at this point (mile 1.5) that my bladder was SCREAMING... I thought I could make it, but 12 more miles with an extremely full bladder? 

Not

Happenin'

So I found a random porta on the side of the trail, unfortunately another guy had the same idea and he took his own sweet time. Another girl and I timed him... he made me miss a solid 2 minutes of my race...

I on the other hand was in and out in 15 second... yes, I really am that fast.

Honestly, the race went by in  blur, before I knew it i was at mile 10 and I was feeling GOOD!

If you'll recall my Korea half it was mile 10 that my knee blew out and made running slightly more difficult.

Not this time.

I was truckin' along and feeling great!

I will say there was a killer hill at mile 12.25 for the next .5 miles, but I was able to catch Ali (who I hadn't seen since the first 5 minutes of the race) and we pumped each other up!

No walking here.

Before I knew it I could see the finish line and away I went!

Please ignore my heel striking the ground, but notice the smile on my face.

I was feeling AWESOME!!!

(and yes, I totally beat the girl in the blue... I have a bit of a competitive spirit)

After the race waiting for some food!

burgers and fondue

I was doing really well with the no dessert thing for lent.

but melting pot fondue?? I just ran 13.1 miles people!!! That and I've heard that some people don't even recognize sunday's for the lent sacrifice...

so there.

Overall, I finished 13.22 miles in 2:12:24 (according to my Garmin)

which puts me at 10:00 per mile!!! Right. on. target.

I also had negatives splits for the last 6 miles.

And I knocked about 2.5 minutes off of my previous half marathon time.

Although because of porta potty man something makes me think I could've finished at around 2:10.

I have NEVER felt this good after a long run, and I'm loving that.

Now it's time to get ready for the next one :)

I'm hoping for a sub 2:10!