For being the first half-marathon, it was very fun. The hills killed my time though. I was expecting a few hills, but the whole half-marathon course was up and down, up and down. At the start, there is a huge hill a little after mile 4. That's about when I begun to speed it up a little. After that, it was uphill for like 4 miles, down a hill, up a hill, then turn around. Then I'd have to do all the hills that I went up and just go down them. So while it wasn't a terrible experience, it definitely made my hips work extra hard. They are still sore and very tight Overall though, I wouldn't change a thing about the day. It was near perfect.

Start out just a tad bit slower. I was at about mile 3.5 and kicked it up right around the middle of the big hill. My time was already 40 minutes at that time and I wasn't even at mile 4, so I tried to make up time. Definitely won't do that again.

Also, near the end at about mile 11.6 or so, I was walking too much and picked up energy shots that I never tried before because it was free. They were great, but I stopped way too long and walked way too long and all the lactic acid from the day built up and the last mile killed me. I felt all the pain from the day on that last mile and it hurt my time incredibly.

Grabbed the silver heat absorber blanket and sat down and ate a hot dog and salad. It felt great to finally be finished.


Inexperience with the whole pace of the marathon and mood. Definitely not enough training to complete that many miles. I can do about 6 miles with a time of 8/min miles. So I definitely have a lot of work ahead of me. Placing 493 out of that many people on a very hill course, I am quite happy with my time.


For a first time half-marathoner, this was a fantastic day. Couldn't ask for better running conditions with a high of around 49 mid-day with barely any wind at all and the sun shining. It was gorgeous out. I think a lot of people hated doing all the hills, but when they were finally done, they said wow that was the best race I ever raced. Great job GSV!