Celebrate Life Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

This was my first half marathon and I am really happy with how I did. My goal time was 2:15 so I beat that pretty easily.
I wanted to average about 10 minute miles, but the first 2 miles were just a little over 9 minutes, and I didn't think I could keep up that pace, so I tried to slow it down a little. I stayed very consistent for the rest of the race; I had 2 miles that were a little over 10 minutes, but they were mostly uphill, and the rest were between 9:27 and 9:53, so I really stayed at a very steady pace.

Back in the Fall I decided I would like to do a Half Ironman, so I signed up for Timberman. Since I have never run more than a 10K, I started training for this half mary, and then the mentor program was started. I joined Kelpeng's (Kelly's) group and it really helped my training. Getting "inspires" about my training was a boost, and just knowing that other people would be checking my logs helped keep me consistent, and also honest with myself. Also, getting good luck wishes in the few days before the race from people who have never even met me in real life was really great. I was thinking about that at times during the race, and then I got to the 10 mile mark. I had planned on getting to 10 miles, and then seeing if I felt up to pushing harder for the last 5K. Well, right at the marker was the start of a pretty good hill. When I checked Motion Based after the race, I found it was about a hundred foot elevation gain over about 2/3's of a mile; so not a huge hill, but big enough after running 10 miles. I was going to kind of shuffle up it, but I thought about our group pulling for me, so I pushed myself pretty hard. It wasn't like I was running fast, but I was fast enough to pass 4 people on that hill. So, a really big THANK YOU! to my mentor group for helping me with that push up the hill. I was kind of spent after that, but I did maintain my pace, and I didn't get passed back by the people I had passed, and I even managed to pass a couple more on the last hill.

This race was close to home, the course was great, and by far the most important thing, Citizens Reunited to Overcome Cancer is a wonderful local organization that helps people with the financial and emotional difficulties of dealing with cancer, so I really couldn't ask for anything more. Even the post race food was good. Besides a few kinds of macaroni (which I really don't eat), they had some really good chili which I love.


Not much. Three months ago I wasn't even sure if I could run a half marathon, and now I have finished in what for me is a good time.

Walked, drank water and ate some chili.


I don't train enough, and I'm not real fast.