It poured down rain pretty much the whole time. And then like 30 minutes after it was over the sun came out and it was nice out. Go figure. I went back and forth on what to wear and settled on running tights, tank top, and my bike jacket that is waterproof and has vents on the sides. It was the right call except as I gave it all I had at the end I started to overheat. I did not want to stop and take the jacket off, though, and lose time. It was really just the last mile that I was warm.

The course was really nice - excellent choice for a first half marathon. There was plenty of water on the course and gels at mile 7. I had my own and took it right at mile 7. Worked out well. I also carried my own water but didn't drink much of it - I think I absorbed a lot from the rain.

I was worried that we were starting out too fast - my sister definitely could have pulled down a 1:45 if she wanted to, but she ran with me. She was a great pacer. I had the Garmin in my pocket since it was raining so I didn't really know how we were doing, but I knew we were running faster than we trained (10:00 miles on the long runs). I was hoping for around 2:10, but with the rain I figured anything under 2:15 would be awesome. I had no idea what our time was going into the last few miles and I think that was good. I was surprised to see how consistently we ran our miles. I was also really glad to see that I had some left in the tank for the last mile. We got to run into the stadium and around the field and I totally felt like I was going to die. But of course, I didn't :)

Be kinder to the weather gods and get better weather??

My legs were so tired by the time we got through the finish line and I just came to a halt right past it. I got my medal and had my chip taken off and we headed upstairs for food. They had a really nice spread AND we got to sit with Jeff Galloway at breakfast!


I could say the rain I guess, but I don't know if I would have run any faster. I was SOOOO pleased with my time. With battling IT band issues all last year I haven't been doing any tempo/hill work until the last few weeks. All of our long runs were at a 10:00/mile pace and they felt comfortable, so I really wasn't sure what our race pace would be. I think 9:22/miles is awesome and I think I would have run about the same speed even in dry conditions. Definitely could have lost the jacket the last mile, though.


Awesome race - very nice, fast, flat course. And it was so awesome to do it with my sister. She was so encouraging and kept looking at her watch and not telling me the time but just telling me how awesome I was and how impressed she was with how I was doing. It's been such an experience to train with her and I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful sister to share this with. We went home after the race, rested up, and went out and hit the town in Nashville last night and were able to hang until 4am. Good to see we haven't lost our touch!!!