Shamrock Half Marathon

I did it! I finished my first half marathon and I am ready to do it again!

The morning started out cold. I am pretty sure the winds were around 30 MPH as we walked over to the starting line. I started out like this:

But I removed my two jackets before jumping into my corral:

(yes those are St. Patrick Day socks turned arm warmers)

I made a very last minute playlist and it was just what I needed to get me going. One of the first songs I heard was Citizen Cope’s “Sun’s Gonna Rise.” Quite fitting as the sun was rising right about then. There was great energy on the course and lots of people cheering us on…and setting up beer stations for later (I did not partake in that because I am pretty sure I would have been sick).

I hit mile five at the same pace I ran the 8K last week. I did the math in my head and I figured I could do this in 2:40. (Math got me through a lot of this race; kept my mind off the pain). The first ten miles weren’t bad. I only walked through the hydration stations and stopped once to tie my shoe. But after that….whole different story. Every step I took after mile 10 was a personal distance record. I could feel my lack of training smacking me in the face. But I stuck to it.

I ran into my friend’s husband (she was running the full, he was just running for fun) around mile 12.5 or so. He jumped in with me for a few and snapped this lovely picture:

Amazing how you can fake happiness at this point! and then he caught this one on my final dash on the boardwalk:

J also got a great video, but I still don’t know how to add those! someday….

After the race, we watched for Meg and then I went to shower, change and eat. We headed back to see her finish. She set a new PR by six minutes! Go Meg!!!! And then we headed into the after party, sponsored by Yuengling

(note to self…wear sunscreen)

Sadly, this became this…..

You can’t take some people anywhere!!!!!

All in all, it was a great day. And I got some great SWAG. RUnner’s World has voted it one of the best for its giveaways. I got a nice technical shirt, a bag, the finisher’s t-shirt you see above, my medal and a hat (and all the Yuengling you can drink!)

I am looking into running the Rock and Roll Half in VA Beach over Labor Day weekend. I hear it is a good time, just need to find an affordable hotel.