13.1 Miles

First half-marathon down, woohoo!

My Saturday began with a nice little alarm at 5:30am and the sound of rain outside my window. I was expecting a downpour when I looked outside, and it was exactly what I anticipated, if not worse.

I woke up Justin with a feeling of defeat from the rain. I was sad about the thought of not running because it was raining so hard, but at 5:30 in the morning, I was also really wanting to go back to bed. Justin gave me quite the good pep talk and reminded me how much I've been looking forward to this run and assured me that he'd be by my side the whole time if this is what I wanted to do - and what I should do.

So off we went to South Park in Charlotte! I figured we'd be the only crazy ones to show up other than the actual serious runners, but it seemed like almost everyone did come out. By the time we got there the rain died down to a tolerable state and we hid under a small tent constructed by the local radio station. It was meant to keep their stereo equipment dry but ended up being a shelter for the anxious runners : )

There were moments during the run when the rain was coming down hard, but it felt very invigorating. It mainly drizzled the whole time, which was actually really nice. The course was very hilly, just like the description said it would be. Thankfully, I was well prepared after training on the hills of Chapel Hill and they didn't bother me at all.

I felt very strong during the whole run, which was awesome! My strategy for the first 5 miles was to run a 10 minute pace. This only happened in the first mile because of the congestion of runners at the starting line. We actually ended up running an average pace of 9:26! It's funny to me how much I underestimate my capabilities at times. I haven't had one long distance training run where I averaged that speed. To me it's awesome to know I can run a 9:26 pace during a long run, and of course I can't wait to continuously improve in the future!


Overall, it was an awesome race, and it was so much fun running it together with Justin. I really love the distance of a half-marathon and definitely want to push myself to run harder the next time I do it.

Here are some fun photos from the race.

Good morning! It's 7am and we're not so wide-eyed and bushy-tailed...


And after the race...just a tiny bit soaked.


Can't help but be all smiles :)


Also, now I know why girls braid their hair for races or long runs because check out that little birds nest behind my neck. Definitely not too cute, but I guess it's hard to be after running 13 miles ;)

Now I'm resting for a day and can't wait to get back to running on Monday!