Okay, I must say - I've been kind of psyching myself out of this all week: I'm too tired, I'm too big, I'm too...yeah, the list goes on and on. Now that the race is over I've busted all my excuses and feel great! I honestly could've gone a few more - not 26.2, but maybe 15 or 16. It all just felt good! Picked up Tom Slick and my SIL and got to the race in decent time, and started about 3-4 min back from the gun time. Had a few good laughs about my shirt with the trax train crowd, and some good 'looks' from people as we were in the porta-potty lines. Started out nice and easy, I didn't want to waste energy weaving around people, so I mostly just took what they'd give me. I blame the slowest 2nd mile pace on a mixed up water stop, it was our first as a group: stop, don't, okay stop, go back a few steps to get it, where are you?, group up, run on. The rest of the water stops were MUCH more successful! It was great chatting with Tom and my SIL, I really didn't even think about miles until I got to my 'death point' at about 6.5 from the first time I'd run the race...I knew I was 1/2 way and was still feeling good! I felt like we kept passing people and were keeping a decent stride, I rarely remember being passed. I would hear a few giggles from some folks as I passed them, and a couple comments, but I honestly thought I'd get a lot more from the crowd with the shirt. Maybe they just felt too defeated that a pregnant lady had just passed them :) I was pleased that I had absolutely NO ITB pain the entire run, first time I've run that course w/out the pain. I guess that is one GOOD thing about pregnancy hormones: keeps all those tendons nice and relaxed :) As we headed up the last hill just as you cross mile 12, besides the heavy breathing I really still felt just GREAT...so I let the stride go a bit. I really, truly would not have guessed the pace was as fast as it was! If I had that much left in me at the end I should've run a bit faster throughout. Meh...I felt good! Who am I to complain about time when I'm finishing a 1/2 marathon 30 weeks pregnant? Crossed the finish feeling good and with a little bit of kick in my step! No pain, no fuss - just a wonderful easy run with a couple of excellent friends! When I noticed the time was just over 2 hours, I honestly felt a bit cheated...I wish I would've knocked enough out to finish just under instead of over, but that's the competitor in me I guess. It was hard sometimes during the race to see people I was running behind and think "I should be in front of you..." Maybe that's what kept me motivated, who knows! I'm SO grateful for Slick and my SIL that made the day even better with good laughs and GREAT company. It was fun to run into a few people too, missed BSRools crowd - we'll have to do the parkway sometime! AP: 9:17 splits: 9:43, 10:13, 9:19, 9:11, 9:23, 9:19, 8:57, 9:21, 9:00, 9:37, 9:07, 9:38, 8:06 Had hubby take these pics afterward...I hope you enjoy them :) No laughing at the fat pregnant lady!!
| 
