Lincoln National Guard Half-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Started out nice and slow, ahead of the 2:00 pacer but not able to really get close to them because of all the people. Seriously, it was crazy. I was running with my friend Rebekah. We were shooting for 2:00 but I knew that unless it was an absolutely perfect race that 2:00 just isn't in the cards for me right now (yet!). I haven't worked hard enough to earn that time. I did think that I was capable of 2:05 though, and that was what I was really shooting for.

Started off and it was great - nice and cool, 100% cloud cover, a nice breeze going. In shorts and a tank top I was feeling great. I'm guessing the temp was right around 60. Warmer than I'd like but not as bad as it could have been. Yesterday at 7:00 the temperature was already in the upper 70's and I would have died a slow death if I had to run 13 miles in that. Yes, I am a heat wuss.

About mile 3 Rebekah needed to go the bathroom. I knew I'd be cutting it really close to make my goal so I told her I'd see her at the end. Also she was going kind of slow anyway, I felt like maybe she was hurting a little bit.

At first I was having a hard time getting below 9:30/mile. We planned that the first mile would be slowish, kind of a warm-up, then we'd pick up the pace. After I dropped Rebekah I had a hard time getting my pace down to where I knew it needed to be (9:09/mile for a 2 hour finish). At that point I pretty much knew it just wasn't going to happen. If I was already struggling then there was no way I could maintain that kind of effort for another 10 miles.

I can't upload my data right now because my garmin connector SUCKS. But anyway, by mile 5/6 I was running in the upper 8's and I thought that well, maybe I do still have a chance at 2:00. By about mile 7/8 I was ready for it to be over, which is really sad. I was sweating like crazy, the sun came out, I was working hard but didn't feel like I was going anywhere. I tried to eat some of my Cliff bar that I had brought, and I took one bite and almost threw up. That never happens to me. It may have something to do with the fact that last night, AFTER the pasta dinner, I ate a giant cookie, a bag of popcorn, and a large chocolate shake. Just maybe that was a little bit much for my tummy. Whoops!

Our race bibs had our first names on them which was cool. Right about that time when I was totally fading some lady saw my name and freaked out. I think maybe her daughter was named Brynn, because she was tapping her on the shoulder and going crazy. Like "OH MY GOSH! A BRYNN!BRYNN!!!GO BRRYYYYNNNNNN!!!!!" I thought it was hilarious. :)

Saw Brian and the boys at mile 9. The little boys didn't even recognize me or else they were just overwhelmed with all the people, so that was kind of funny. :) I sort of high-fived them but then just kept on going, knowing that every second counted.

About mile 10 I was really hurting. I told myself it was only a 5K left. By this time my water bottle was empty. I had drank all of it as well as at every aid station so I was thankful that I had it, otherwise I would have just been parched. I was sweating buckets, literally. Just covered in sweat and salt. My pace by my watch had dropped back to about 9:30, and try as I might I could not push it. I really wanted to go faster but the legs just weren't doing what I asked them to.

I kept pushing on, knowing I was close. At one point I looked at my watch and I was just sure I wasn't going to make it in 2:05 so I got pissed and started running a little bit faster, but not much.

Then I was at the stadium. Everyone was pushing forward at this point and I just went along with it. I stepped on to the turf and glanced at my watch, and it said 2:03 and some change. Plenty of time to run 50 yards! So I got the biggest smile on my face and ran to the finish. 2:04:11, beat my goal by 49 seconds.

I waited around for quite a while for Rebekah. She finished about 15 minutes after I did. She was a little disappointed but not really prepared for the warmth of the race.

Not much. I probably should have started doing speed work earlier than I did, I didn't start doing it until about 6 weeks ago. Also, yesterday I went to the expo and it was literally like 97 degrees and I just sweat my brains out, I drank all day and all night and never felt like I caught up on my hydration. So maybe next time not go to the expo if it is so hot out, or else not also go to a track meet for 2.5 hours that morning when it is also crazy hot out.

I just walked around in a daze for a few minutes, tried not to barf. Finally grabbed a gatorade and then just waited for Rebekah. We walked around trying to figure out how to find my husband and kids, then I just gave up and walked back to my car. I stretched a little bit once I got there but I was just so, so tired. Then I went to Subway because a nice bready sandwich sounded delicious. When the guy asked me what kind of cheese I wanted I literally almost broke down, I just could not think at all. I said something like "I don't know....just cheese!" I am pretty exhausted. Not so much from the distance, but the effort level.


Tummy problems, and also being on my period which always sucks. Otherwise I maybe could have trained harder but I think I did great based on what I went into the race with.


One thing that was irritating was that at packet pick up there were soooo many people and no clearly marked lines. It was confusing and took forever. Other than that the pasta dinner was great, there were lots and lots of volunteers and like 10 tables spread out for every drink station so there were plenty of drinks and tons of volunteers. The entire city came out to see this race and it was fun. I also liked having our names on our bibs, that was pretty cool.