Half marathon = SUCCESS!

Today was the Evansville Half Marathon, which I signed up for about 3-4 weeks ago. The race started at F.J. Reitz High School at 7:00 a.m., just as the sun was coming up, and let me tell you it was COLD. I think it was right around 40 degrees when the race started and probably somewhere between 42-45 when I finished.

As I said on here before, my goal was to beat my previous best time of 1:50:19, and beat it I did!!! I actually shocked myself today with my time. I was aiming for a 1:48:00 and instead I finished in 1:43:25. That was a 7:53 overall pace, which amazed me (and made me think I should probably be running my 5K's a little faster than I have been!) I felt good from the very start, but I had to continually tell myself to calm down and go slow for the first few miles so that I didn't poop out at the end. It ended up being a great strategy, as my 13th mile was the fastest, 12th mile was second fastest, 11th was third fastest, etc. I definitely think training on the Bloomington hills helped me, as this was a fairly flat course.

I placed 13th out of 192 runners in my age group, and I was the 49th overall female out of a total of 1,230. In terms of the overall race (males and females combined) I was 260th out of 2,185.

My favorite things about the race were the bands along the side of the road every couple of miles, the groups with boom boxes who were cheering, dancing, and playing songs like "YMCA" as we ran past, as well as the path by Garvin Park where the race organizers wrote the city of every participant on the path with sidewalk chalk. I definitely saw my city of Bloomington, as well as several small Indiana towns and big cities all over the country, including Los Angeles, Louisville, St. Louis, Cincinnati, etc.

It felt great to run a race that I was proud of at the end, and now I've got the half marathon bug. I want to do another one in the spring, most likely the Circle of Life IU Mini Marathon in Bloomington (I don't think the 2010 date has been set yet). I have to make sure I stay healthy and in good running shape. There is a huuuuge difference in how I felt at the end of today's race (when I feel like I'm in pretty decent running shape) and how I have felt at the end of other half marathons when I didn't exactly train properly for them.

I recorded my splits at each mile marker, and I'm guessing my mom is probably the only one who will be interested in these, but here they are anyway:

Mile 1 - 8:30
Mile 2 - 8:08
Mile 3 - 7:48 (I thought, "Whoa, slow down a little! You still have 10 miles!")
Mile 4 - 7:56
Mile 5 - 8:02
Mile 6 - 8:03
Mile 7 - 7:52
Mile 8 - 7:51
Mile 9 - 7:53 (at this point I decided it was time to start picking it up each mile until the finish)
Mile 10 - 7:47
Mile 11 - 7:45
Mile 12 - 7:41
Mile 13 - 7:27
Last tenth of a mile - 36 seconds

Karl was the best husband in the world today, and got up early (4:45 a.m.) with me, drove my cousin's wife Amy and me to the race, and then braved the chilly 40 degree weather to watch us and take pictures throughout the race. He was right there at the finish line and I really appreciate his support!!! I think he wants to run one in the spring as well! Here are a few more photos (the ones above are me at the 8 mile mark, and me as I came out of the finish chute):

Amy running by at the 8 mile mark.

My aunt Ruth Ann running by near mile 8.

Me trying to kick it in at the finish.

Amy and me after the race.

That's all for now! I am looking forward to the official race photos being posted on www.fotojack.com. I'll post some here if I can find any of myself. If you want to see the full results from the race, click here.