Here I go again!

**Official results** 1:42:50!!!
17th place in age division (30-35), out of 191.  (That means I was on the top 10 percent of females on my age division!!!
Overall: 320th place out of 2,061 runners.

So so so so so so so happy - when the race pics come out I'm going to look so ridiculous, with a huge smile as if I had won the oscar or something... too funny.

Going into the race I did not feel confident that I could reach my goal of 1:45.  My last half marathon, 2 months ago, was 1:48. But, I thought I'd try and keep an 8-min mile pace for as long as I could and see how it went. 

Started out waaaay too fast.  I felt good, so I thought I could hold a sub-8 min pace for a while... so I think the first 6 miles were all close to 7:45. Around mile 8 I started to feel the crash. Oh yea, I should've started slower...  It's hard to pace yourself when you're running in a narrow bike trail the whole time, miles 1-4 were pretty crowded, then it thinned out.

So I was pretty much cruising till mile 8 when I started feeling like I was going to die and thought I was going to have to stop and walk the rest of the way. But I kept pushing. I wanted to cry. I kept looking at the volunteers asking for their mercy. Nothing. Mile 11 was the big hill - I thought I was going to pass out. Miles 12 and 13 were on the Capitol Crescent Trail, where I run all the time. So I knew the end was near. But it didn't make me feel better.  I knew I was ahead of pace, so I could slow down - but I felt like I was running 10-min miles... so I kept pushing... I thought how embarrassing would be to be one of those girls who have to be taken in an ambulance.... the horror... Then the tunnel - I can make it, I can make it, it's almost over... Then the last 200 yards, the finish line is right there!!! And look at the clock, it says 1:44... no freaking way!!! If that was the clock time, my chip time was better than that? Yeah! So I sprinted to the finish.  So excited. So happy. So tired. Had to sit down and keep my head down cause I felt like I was really going to faint. Got food, water, felt better. Saw my friend Brent, he did pretty good, 1:48.  Saw my co-worker Matt, who couldn't run because he was sick, and his wife, then we walked to the finish line to wait for our co-worker Mike. He finished in 2:15, I think, his first half marathon and he hasn't been training that well in the past 2 weeks. He has twin girls, 2.5 years old, and another baby on the way, so he probably doesn't have a lot of time on his hands!

After the race we all went to get brunch. A happy day.

Seven miles at the C&O Canal after work, gorgeous day - went slow. Felt good.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember my house was broken into in March of 08, they came in through a latch on the roof above the bathroom, stole my laptop, two pairs of jeans, some cash, and went out the front door with my car keys, took my car, crashed it someplace and totaled it, and I recovered nothing cause I had only liability insurance and no renters insurance.

Well, dejavu! Last night I came home from work and behold, someone pushed in a window a/c unit from the front ground floor of the house, the entire window went down but didn't break, and they seem to have stolen only my laptop and some jewelry my roommate has.  They took my roommate's car keys but didn't take her car, maybe cause they got scared someone was watching, or maybe they didn't know how to drive a stick...

Fun times.

Thankfully nobody was hurt. Still, it makes me so mad that a bunch of 16 year old kids go around terrorizing the neighborhood breaking into homes and stealing things that people work so hard to get, and even when they get caught the police can't do anything because they're minors. So frustrating!

Happy Monday bloggers!

Check it out - Parks Half Marathon 2006 (my first half marathon, 2:05 vs. 2009, 1:42:50... I still haven't learned to place my arms properly, I always keep them too high up!

I told you my smile was ridiculous!

Check

Biked to the office - legs feel super tired! After work, ran a bit past Fletcher's and back to the office - legs feel sooooo tired! Biked home.

Biked to the office, after work ran on the c&o canal to Glover park and up the trail for a few miles, then back down. Trail running is hard! lots of roots and rocks... miracle I didn't get hurt. Lots of ups and downs, fun. Legs felt tired at first but after they had warmed up they were ok.  Biked home.

Could this day be more beautiful? I don't think so. Absolutely perfect. Studied and cleaned up in the morning and went out around 2 pm - went down the mall to Hains Point, it's not the same now that the awesome sculpture"the awakening" is gone... then back out, over the 14th st. bridge (aka broken jaw bridge), on the Mt. Vernon trail to Rosslyn, cross the bridge and back home the long way.  Felt GREAT. Took some G2 in my little backpack and drank it along the way, and had 2 blocks around mile 10. I was able to sprint the last few miles; the average was 9:30 min/miles, which is what I was shooting for. Now off to my Indian friend's indian foodfest, then to my Turkish friend's birthday. As much as I miss the mountains, it's so cool to have friends from all different cultures and nationalities here! Have a great weekend everyone!