3:00:10

I ran my first half Marathon today. My goal before I started was to finish. As I was running I gave myself a new goal: 3 hours. As you can see by my title. I almost made it under 3 hours.

It was a super day. I got up at 5am. Made some coffee and ate a couple of pieces of toast. My neighbors who were also running picked me up at at 6:15 and we headed to the starting line. I wasn't nervous or anxious and waited for the start. A gospel choir was singing at the start and they were very inspiring. The race started and it took about 5 minutes to cross the pad that started the timing chip. I crossed at 7:o7. Wow did it feel great running with 20,000 people.

My family was at mile 4 cheering me on. I ran over to give my boys a kiss since I left so early and didn't get to see them. I also handed off the sweatshirt I was wearing because I was getting warm. I left them at 7:56.

I started walking for a bit and a women next me asked if that was my son. She said his smile when he saw me was priceless. She also said that she wanted to finish in 3 hours. I was moving faster than her and decided that I could do that too!

The next 5 miles were uneventful. I noticed that there were a bunch of us running walking at about the same speed, so I used them to pace myself.

At mile 9, we met back up with the marathon route. As I rounded the corner I noticed the lead car come by. I screamed to the women running just behind me to hurry up so that we could run with the lead pack. We did, for about 3 seconds. Man were they moving. The leaders finished 22 miles as I was finishing 9.

About mile 11, my legs were so tired I needed to walk a lot more than I had been. For those of you from Salt Lake I ran around Casey and Debra from Channel 2, morning team for a while. They finished just in front of me.

My family came down and cheered me on at the end. I loved every minute of the race. I finished 295th in my age group (35-39), still beating out about 40 runners. Next year when I run I'll be in a new age group. Perhaps I finish better.

Next year? You bet!

One woman running at about my pace had on a shirt that had a great saying and I told her so. It said "The woman who starts the race is not the same woman who finishes the race." Very true. I feel empowered!

Also, What a great way to spend Earth Day!

~Peace