Success

Today I ran my first half marathon of 2012 in Lowell, IN.

The morning started out with breakfast. Some runners can change up their breakfast but I cannot. Since this started really working well for me I have stuck with it...Typical banana and PB sandwiches water and coffee.

Then I set out to Freedom Park in Lowell. There was a horrible rain/wind storm about 30 minutes before the race was supposed to start so they delayed it about 10 minutes... We got in a few quick pictures of our hard working training groups many of whom where running a half marathon for the very first time.

All of the runners including myself did really amazing today. I am so proud of all of them. Sometime as runners we have goals and sometimes they are just to finish the race. Today I had a particular goal for this race. Last year I didn't properly train and I finished in 2 hours 8 minutes and 47 seconds This year I was really pushing to train hard and finish in under 2 hours.  Around the 10.4 mile marker the wind really picked up and it started to rain causing the wind to blow the rain pretty hard. At this point I knew I was still on pace to finish in the time frame I wanted but I was feel pretty rough. The high winds and hilly course had really tired me down. I just kept pushing and when I made the last turn onto Cline Ave the wind was absolutely brutal. I knew I only had just over a mile to go and when I made that last push up the hill and made the turn back into the park the down hill into the park carried me to the finish line and by the skin of my teeth I made it...
1 hour 59 minutes and 58 seconds. I was 10th place in my age group...

Sweet Success Feels good.  No one can take how you feel after a race. Crossing that finish line feels amazing. (April Photo Challenge Day 15: Sunset)... remember a few weeks ago when I showed the picture of the Moon I asked you to make a promise to not let a another sunset without making a plan to get what you want. Today the sun will set and I will have successfully crossed another finish line.