Half Marathon No. 4

Today I completed my 4th half marathon. Having done a marathon, I am grateful to finish the race at 13.1 miles. 26.2 was so taxing on my body and quite time-consuming. I love that my body doesn't feel dead after a half marathon, but 13 miles is still enough of a stretch that it's something to work towards.

My last half marathon time was 1:52:13 or an 8:34 mile pace. My goal each time I run a half is to improve on my previous time. 3 weeks ago when I ran the distance of a half marathon, I finished in 1:49 so I was only praying that I could do as well today. Today I had the run I've always longed for but have never had. Between cramping or bathroom issues, something has always come up to prevent me having a really good run on race day. So in the past I have been disappointed with the race simply because I knew that I could have done better. Today, I felt so good almost the entire time. Around mile 10 I started having some side cramps so that mile was my slowest at 8:32. My fastest miles were #1 at 7:55 and mile #12 at 7:05. My overall average was 8:15 mile pace and I finished at 1:48:05. I felt really good after finishing and definitely could have continued running for a little longer. I felt good enough to play doubles tennis for 2 hours an hour after I finished!

While I was running, the kids were having a great time doing some of this:

waiting in line to get on the inflatable slide,

hugging this dog,

and following this cookie around. (Carter kept saying, "cookie, cookie.")

After the race. (Matt didn't get any pictures of me running.)

It was such a thrilling day knowing that I had such an awesome race. I've never run that fast for that many miles ever! Running is so invigorating, and as always I'm so grateful for my husband's support in this "crazy" thing I love, according to him.