I was really looking forward to seeing what all this marathon training would do for my 1/2 marathon time! So I've been amped for this run for awhile.
My legs were nice and warm from dashing all over to find an atm. But since I was late, I had to start in the back of the pack, so I had to pass sooooo many people. The start was congested and it stayed that way for the first two miles, I totally lost some time there. Perhaps that was good though, to save my legs for later.
Once it opened up a bit, I found this GREAT rabbit to follow. Thank you girl-in-blue-shorts-with-curly-hair. She was just the right pace for me. I felt really good, really strong. My stride was jsut right. I stayed right behind Blue Shorts for about six miles, but then she broke away and I didn't want to push it too much.
They had a good number of water stops, 5 I think, and I took water at all but the first one. They had a gel stop too, but I had brought my own and took it at mile 9 or so. I would have taken it earlier but I kept forgetting. Derrrr.
So after taking my gu, I did some math with my watch and was really happy with the way things were looking. I really wanted to PR, and had flirted with the idea of 1:45, but didn't think I could really drop that much time. I had dropped about six minutes from my PR in January and that race I had to really work the last couple miles to keep my legs going at the pace they were. But at this race, I didn't feel tired at all, and felt like I could have run like that for miles and miles more. So I picked it up a bit and just kept chugging along. There were these two really funny guys behind me for a few miles that were focusing on getting all spectators in cars (it was rainy) to honk their horns. That was a nice distraction.
The last couple of miles seemed to come up really quickly! Next thing I know, it's mile 11 and we get into this long stretch of a paved running path. I felt great so I kicked it up another notch and passed a lot of people who were losing steam. I thought to myself "yeah the running feels great today, just wait til you feel this in your quads tomorrow on your 20 mile run!" haha.
It was mile 12 before I knew it, and I still felt strong and really good. I am so happy to see my endurance has improved so much. I guess that's the idea with marathon training, ha. It's great to see the hard work pay off... a good confidence boost for the marathon.
So this last mile I tried to really kick it in and bring it in strong. I checked my watch and thought "holy shit! I could make 1:45!!" so I just kept thinking home stretch home stretch home stretch as I ran. I was using my ipod mix from my very first half marathon and it has stood the test of time, the perfect songs for me to run to. Take Me Home Tonight came on with about half a mile to go and I thought the shuffle feature gods had a good sense of appropriateness.
I could see the college coming into view, and saw the finishing chute, and tried to get a final burst of speed but my legs were moving about as fast as they could at that point. The chute, maybe 200 yards long, had some great spectators. Thanks for cheering! Actually the whole race, despite the weather, had good crowd support. So thanks, guys!
Finished and checked my watch and I was UNDER 1:45!! I was so happy, I wish I had someone there to hug and jump around with. I settled for somone taking my chip and giving me a medal.

nada!!

They had the usual post race food, I took a 1/2 of a banana and water. Then I stretched out really good, noticed my hips were wicked tight. Ouch. More stretching, then I wandered over to the massage line. Ahhh, what a lovely thing that was. I could have had that big burly girl work me over for another hour, it felt so great.
I should have stayed out to watch Jess finish, she was about 20 minutes behind me (bad race for her), I feel like an asshole about that now. Anyway, she got a massage too, and then we hit up a subway for the most delicious subway six inch I've ever eaten, and back to Minneapolis we went.


Being in the back of the pack for the start. But I think the slow first two miles helped me in the end so I'm quite alright with it.


Wahooooo, big new PR baby! I suspect this one will be difficult to break for quite awhile.
This race was great. It was very well run and organized, lots of people to cheer you on, good aid stations. I really liked the course, it went all through town and through neighborhoods, along roads, and running paths. The change of scenery was nice.
I totally give this race two enthusiastic thumbs up!