Platte River Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

This was my first ever half marathon. I had been doing my long runs about 10 minutes per mile, or a little slower. My goal was to come in under 2:10 so I was pleased with my time (2:01:24).

I ran most the race with Shannon and Stacie and it was great to chat and the time went really quickly. It didn't seem like long and we were saying we only had a 10K left to run.

At mile 8 I started calculating that it would be possible to break 2 hours if I could run the next 5 miles all under 9 minute miles. I tried to keep that pace for the last five miles but by the time I stopped for water, etc. I was slightly over. I thought maybe I could really hussle on the last mile and make up for it but mile 12 to 12.5 was all uphill. I ran the last mile in 8:56 but it wasn't easy and my side started to hurt.

At mile 8 and 10 I had 1/2 a bag of vanilla gel with some water. I finished it off at mile 12. I wish there was more water stops toward the end.

Overall, I felt really good. My foot didn't hurt at all and I was so glad I wore the brand new shoes (plus they looked purty :) I even ran the whole race without listening to music (even though my MP3 player was in my pocket).

I could've used some more water toward the end. I was thirsty every mile after mile 8.

Walked around and cheered on some friends. Then had a beer...even though it was Bud Light (yuk).


Maybe I could have tried to run a little faster miles 5-7 but then I'm not sure I would have felt so good the last several miles.


I tried to have some lunch but they had run out of veggies burgers so I only had a bag of chips. The food options could have better. Overall it was a good race and I would do it again.