2012 Heart and Soul Half Marathon

Unless you have been under a rock, you know that this past Saturday was my 31st birthday and I ran my first half marathon.  It was absolutely awesome.

I will say that the two days before the race were the best part of the whole training process. CARB LOADING!  Those two days make the whole process of training to run 13 miles glorious.  You are supposed to eat 4 grams of good carbohydrates per pound of body weight, so I got to eat 556 grams!  I knew my stomach couldn’t handle that huge of a jump, so I ate 300 grams Thursday and tried my hardest to eat the 556 on Friday.  It is really hard to eat that many carbs.  I was so full.  I ate rice, potatoes, pasta, bananas, white bread, and PANCAKES! The pancakes were so good.  I could not tell you the last time I ate pancakes and well, I was on a sugar/carb high after that breakfast.  I have signed up for another half marathon just for the marvelous pancakes. Oh and I still lost weight for the week :).

Anyway, back to the actual running the race part.  It took me 2:08:41.  Here is the proof from the timing website:

I was very happy with that time, but I am most proud of my split times:

I ran smart.  The first mile was a little fast, but I corrected myself quickly.  I am not sure what happened at mile 9 to slow me down, but I got back on track for the rest of the race.  My goal was to be consistent and run the distance within my fitness level.  It felt really good and I never felt like I was going to die.  I chatted with other runners, I enjoyed the scenery, and I thanked all the volunteers at every intersection and water station.  Speaking of water stations, there was one every 2 miles.  That is a lot of water and Gatorade, but I drank at every one.  I carried my own gels (to prevent stomach issues) and had one at mile 5 and mile 10.

At the end of the race they placed a medal around my neck and gave me bacon.  I was very happy about the bacon.  Well, giddy is a better word.

Here is a close up of the medal:

I am addicted and now I want to train to be faster.  Maybe one day I will train for a full marathon, but for now I am in love with 13.1.  I signed up for the CASA Half Marathon on December 8 and I can’t wait to eat more pancakes!