My Half-Marathon

So my sister, Crystal, has run several half marathons and I've always thought it was neat, but didn't really want to try to do one. Well, back in August, she convinced me to run the next half marathon in Greenville, SC, with her. At the end of August I started a training schedule and started looking forward to/dreading the race day: Halloween. Training went well, and I really liked having a schedule tell me exactly what to run. Any time there was a long distance that I wasn't sure I could handle, Crystal would tell me, "Have faith in the schedule. If it says you can do it, you can do it." She was right!

So a few days before Halloween we made our 5th trip of the year up to SC for the race - spending Halloween with family was a big plus! Of course, I forgot to take my own camera on the trip, and haven't acquired the pictures taken on other cameras yet...shocker. So I don't have any pictures of the kids dressed up in their costumes or trick-or-treating yet, but I'll get them one of these days.

The race day was really perfect running conditions most of the time. The temperature was in the low 60's and it was a little misty. It did rain a little harder during part of the race, which was a bummer, but it was still WAY better than being hot!!

Crystal and I the morning of the race.

Andrew got up to see us off too - a little too chipper for 6-something in the morning.

The race finished up in the Greenville Drive baseball stadium. Kind of fun to run into a stadium full of people. The is me coming in, waving to our awaiting fans: Dan and the kids, my mom and dad, and Dan's mom and dad (drove down from Durham to spend Halloween with us). It was so nice to have fun people around to celebrate the fact the Crystal and I didn't die during the race!There are professional photographers positioned throughout the race - taking lovely pictures!

Crystal coming across the finish line.

Crystal and I right after finishing.

Back at home with our medals. Totally rain-soaked, but glad to be done!

So it was a great experience! I had decided that if I finished in 2 and a half hours I would be happy. I managed to finish in 2 hours and 19 minutes, keeping a 10:40 pace - so I was pleased. I don't know whether or not a full marathon is in my future, but I am certain that it's not in my immediate future. However, I DO think that Crystal and I are going to run another half in Tybee Island in February. Almost time to start training again!