Despite being well trained and preparing for this for four months, I still spent most of the race just trying to believe I was really doing it! This morning my legs are my best reminder that it actually happened!
So much of racing happens in our heads. I really wanted to do this in 2 hours, and I focussed on that maniacally the entire time and never let up. I got what I wanted :)

Worry less! Work just as hard, prepare just as well, but what I would do differently is really believe in myself and have more FUN! Also, I concerned myself with wearing the right performance clothing, and it turned out there was no one right way to do it. Next time I'll focus more on my personal comfort and less on the 'right' clothes for the race.

Ouch! I hugged my family and tried to go for a short walk because I started freezing up. Cleaned up, changed out of wet things and went out to lunch with my fans :)


I am really happy with my speed overall, but if I hadn't been afraid of the pain being even worse than it was, I could have gone a little faster on the hills.


I can't believe what a personal experience this race was for me, despite running with over a thousand others. I knew I had to be there for myself because there is no other way to do an endurance event. When the rubber meets the road, I had to make it happen. All of the doubts about ability and the way I worried that any minute I was going to screw up were the only impediments that existed. I would love to get better at the optimism factor involved in racing. In retrospect, I'm really proud of myself for not slowing down everytime I considered doing so. Having a training watch (forerunner 201) and watching my pace was incredibly helpful. I would not have done as well if I had not kept a constant monitor going. Next time, I really want to go with friends though. It's a long lonely race without buds to chat with, and people at Big Lake were pretty quiet. It could be because of the heinous rain, but I just didn't meet many runners who wanted to gab. My advice to anyone training for a half is believe that all you are doing is going to matter because it does. Every run, meal, rest, and visualization comes to your aid at that race. THANKS!!