I love waking up on Monday morning and being able to reminisce after a great weekend. And this weekend was one for the books.
Saturday morning I ran my first half marathon. I have been running longer distances for the past few months and decided during the summer that I wanted to try a half. I chose the Thunder Road Half Marathon in Charlotte because it is local and I didn't want to have to travel. I also like running this time of year when the temperature is cooler.
I was a little apprehensive in the few weeks leading up to the race because I took a week off from running when Ben and I were out of town for our anniversary trip (post coming soon). After we got back, I had a sore hamstring for a week and then started to get shin splints so I had only run 13.1 miles one other time in my life.
There is a small running group in my neighborhood that I have been
running with since last spring so a few of us signed up to run Thunder
Road. I was so happy to have a friend running with me the duration of the race. Meagan and I were really able to pull each other along when we felt like we were losing momentum.
Kim, me, Meagan, and Niki before the race
I was thrilled with the outcome of the race. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours and my final time ended up being 1:53. I finished 170th out of the 1,328 women who ran the half. I felt pretty good throughout the race, but got hot in the layers I was wearing and my music didn't pump me up as much as I would have hoped. The forecast said it would be between 34-40 degrees so I wore a ski thing to cover my ears instead of the ball cap I usually wear. I also layered a long sleeve shirt under my running jacket and wish I had just worn a tank. I had my sleeves rolled up by mile 3. I made a mix on my phone to listen to during the race, but Van Morrison just wasn't cutting it after a few miles. Thankfully my Pandora still worked so I listened to that the rest of the run. Miles 8-10 were by far the toughest, but I knew that Ben and the girls were waiting for me at the finish line so I kept going. Unfortunately it was crowded at the end and I was sprinting to cross the line, so I barely saw them in the crowd, but we met right afterwards and the girls were happy!
Kate was not interested in having her picture taken
Paige wasn't either
Had to document my time, my GPS distance was a little off...
either that or they made us run further than 13.1...
Playing in the park after the race
My cheering squad
Saturday was not over yet though! After the race, we went home and rested up because we co-hosted an oyster roast in our cul de sac that afternoon/evening. We had been planning the oyster roast for a few weeks and that night just worked better for everyone. Needless to say, I was tired by the time I crawled into bed at 11:30pm! We had the best time hanging out with our neighbors and friends. I was a little concerned that the little kids would get bored after the sun set, but Ben set up the projector and we put Frozen on and they all snuggled together under blankets and ate popcorn while the adults hung out. We put them to bed at 7:30 and took turns hanging out afterwards.
Having dinner with Isabeall and Eleanor
So much fun
Lots of the kids watching the movie
Oysters... Yum!
It was a great night. I love my neighborhood! Not going to lie though, I was completely wiped out on Sunday and spent most of the day just resting. Can't wait to sign up for my next half!
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