augusta half marathon

Ok here we go...my first half marathon - the inaugural Augusta Half Marathon.

First, I slept on an air mattress at my parents' house. Bad idea. It deflated in the middle of the night and I got pretty crappy sleep on the floor. Rise & shine at 5 am, out the door around 5:30. We got downtown, picked up my packet and timing chip. The chips were on a velcro ankle band. That thing really hurt me in the end, I have little cuts on my ankle where the velcro rubbed it raw :( I warmed up by running around a couple blocks, stretching etc.

Here I am with Dad stretching before the race:

It was very cold! My fan club had to bundle up:


And we're off! Ryan made sure the first song on my Shuffle was S.O.S from Mamma Mia. Perfect song to start with :)

The race started at the Augusta Common downtown, wound around through Downtown, then started up a long, gradual hill up Central Ave around mile 3 & 4. This hill was really not fun, but I trucked up the whole thing. It was a little sad too, to see this part of Augusta. I wondered what other runners were thinking while running this stretch. Run down buildings, burned down buildings, overgrown lawns...mostly at the bottom of the hill. By the time we got to the top, we were in the more prestigious Summerville area around Augusta State University.

It was around mile 4 or 5 that I heard faintly "purple shorts" - I was wearing purple shorts. Then a man comes up running next to me and I pause the music. His name is Ron and he says "I just wanted to say that you're an inspiration to me. I just keep trying to keep pace with you." Then I say "well we can be running buddies!" So we end up running the next 5 or 6 miles together, and they flew by!! It was an awesome, awesome time. He had some really great stories to tell about his past ultramarathon days, military time, what Augusta used to be like...I just thank God for him. I couldn't believe how fast & easy the race became after Ron started running with me, he was such an encouragement. Had I been by myself, I may have slowed my pace, but Ron challenged me to keep it up! I told him later that he was the real inspiration: 62 years old, with multiple surgeries and a hip replacement. Around mile 10 or 11, Ron had to walk, so we agreed to meet at the finish line. Here's a picture of Ron & I post-race with our medals:


After running through Summerville, the race took us around Lake Olmstead, which I really enjoyed. It was still early morning, and a mist was floating off of the lake. Looked so cool! Then after the lake, it was onto Calhoun Expressway. Ugh. A couple more small hills and the sun shining directly in my face. I closed my eyes a couple times because it was giving me a headache. Yikes. But I finally made it off the expressway, wound another mile or so through downtown and on to the finish line! At this point, there was a small group of us that were running together and encouraging one another. "you got this!" "you're an inspiration!" "keep going!" As I rounded the last corner, "We're All in This Together" came on my Shuffle, and I couldn't have been more energized. I sprinted to the finish line :)

I love this shot, if you could see my face, it would be pure joy:

Medal time!

All in all, it was a great race. Great weather, great fans (yay family!), great company, and really greatly organized, considering it was the first event. I ended up with a chip time of 2:19:22, which I couldn't be happier with. I don't know that I would do it again, but I would if Ron was! Hehe.

my first half marathon

I don't have pictures to upload...yet. But I wanted to do a quick post on my first thoughts of my first half marathon! Yippee! I did it! :)

It was so fun. I know I've been saying that after pretty much every race, but seriously. It was fun. Click here to read a quick recap of the event written by one of my friends from high school.

So appropriately, my first half marathon held a lot of other firsts. This is the first race I've run that started before the sun rose. Yeah. Starting a race in the dark was verrry interesting.

This is also the first race where I've had a running buddy. His name is Ron and he's 62 years old. On top of that, he's had numerous surgeries and a hip replacement! Wow! Amazingly he comes up to me and says that I'm an inspiration and that he's been trying to keep pace with me. After getting to know him, I said "you're definitely the inspiration, not me!" It was GREAT having a running buddy. The miles really flew by after Ron joined me. We didn't finish the race together, but he was right behind me. I really really really wish I had a running buddy for the next half and then Disney next January.

And this race is the first one that any of my family could attend. I had a little tear in my eye after running past them at the start, screaming my name and waving hands in the air. Awww!!! It means so much to me having family there! And then later, coming down the finish line, I kept wondering, where are they?! And there they were, a foot away from the line, cheering me on! Such a great feeling!

And...I got my first medal. I didn't even know you got a medal for finishing. But I've got one! You'll see pictures :)

And my goal was to finish in 2:30 or less...I'm not sure my exact time but it was around 2:19. Yaaaaaay!!

onward

So my next race is this weekend! In Augusta, my hometown. Check out the map. It has a big hill that is several miles long right smack dab in the middle of the course. I am SO excited. Not! I wish I had seen this map before I signed up. Oh well. It will be fun right?

lesson learned

I did it! I passed the 10 mile mark yesterday!

When I made my life goal list last December, I also made a deal with myself that once I reached 10 miles, that would be the time to put the money down on the Marathon. So, I guess it's time to do that now!

This time around, I did things much, much differently!

For starters, I was in Augusta, where the air is much better. I ran a course that was actually a bit hilly, and I started the run around 7. I think the conditions are comparable to what the Peachtree 10k will be like (or at least I hope they are, since I handled them ok!). My course was 5 loops, each loop was 2 miles long. I ran the loop forwards, back, forwards, back, back. At the end of each loop, I took a quick water break. At the end of loop 3 (6 mile mark), I slurped down an energy gel.

I can't believe I actually made it this far. By the time I was on mile 9 I started smiling really big, because I knew I had it done. It's such a great feeling, getting out of the discouragement and reaching for something I've never done. Thanks for everyone who has encouraged me this week!

running break

So I was about to update links for my previous post...but then I thought it would be better to have a quick break to talk about running. Don't want to get too burned out on politics this early in the year ;)

While in Augusta Monday night, I went for a run around the neighborhood. How different it was from my regular runs around GT and Atlanta Memorial Park!

- the air - it smells soooo good! I can't even tell you how good it smells. I seriously did a little leap from my driveway to the street I was so happy when I smelled the air. It just has this sweet fragrance to it that you never ever get in Atlanta because of all the pollution.
- the quiet - it was only 9:30ish when I went for a run, and I saw 2 cars the entire time I was out. Everything was still...I heard crickets.
- stars! I saw stars!!!!
- insanely hard hills. Let's just say I was gasping for air after the last hill up to my house. I had forgotten how steep they can be. But when you're done, you feel awesome!

Bottom line - running in Augusta is a lot more fun than running in Atlanta. You just feel better while you're doing it! Breathing is easier, your legs feel lighter, maybe you even get a spring in your step. Or maybe I was just happy to be home :)

a super tuesday to remember

Just a shout out to my sister Holly for waking up at 6 am to vote with me when the polls opened at 7! What a cool thing, I'll carry the memory with me the rest of my life. I've never actually voted in person before - always by absentee. So for my first time to the polls, I got to go with my younger sister! Awesome. Not to mention we had some great political conversations on the way. I only wish the morning could have lasted longer. My sister's a smart cookie!

Now you ask me why in the world I was in Augusta to vote...yeahhhh I'm dumb. Forgot to change my registration in time when I moved to my new place. So I drove to Augusta last night, woke up and voted, and drove back to Atlanta to make it to work at 9:58 am. I made it 2 min earlier than I thought I would, hehe!