Race Report: Germantown Half marathon!!

Before the race

What a day.. Today was the first race for my season. I woke up at 5:30 am... not a morning person (thank you Don for waking me up) and made a peanut butter, banana,  and honey sandwich.. I wanted to make sure I had enough carbs for the half marathon. As I got ready, I was wondering what the weather was going to be.. 53 degrees... ok.. on with the long sleeves and bring the gloves.

We got to the race site and met up with a lot of team members and everyone was wondering if I was going to be too warm... I was determined.. I have been running with my long sleeve shirt all through training and I knew I had to wear this.. I am sooo glad I did.. It actually got colder through the morning...

 I was nervous.. I had no excuses today.. In the past years, I never completely followed my training.. I wasn't committed, I actually would make up  excuses to avoid my workouts..so when I was done and I didn't do well, I could say.. "if I only did xy training, this would have been different."  Well, this  year is different.. I have followed my training and I wanted to do well. I have been consistent with my pacing and my nutrition. I was having fun and I wanted to do well.. So, away I went.. 

The beginning of the race was fast, I was going about an 11 min/mile and I knew I had to slow down.. So, I slowed down to my usual pace and ran.. There were hills .. going up hills, going down hills and more hills.. wow.. my legs were just running.. I passed people and thanked people on the way.. the entire time, I kept saying when are we going to run on flat ground. We finally turned and we were going on flat ground!! Yeah! I picked up my pace and took in my nutrition.. Just before mile 6, I looked up and on the other side of the road was my husband and my team mates.. It was so great to hear their cheers! I cheered back and kept on running.. At mile 7, I looked at the time and  at first I thought: " oh wow... I am going to finish this in 2 hours and 35 mins.." as I approached mile 8, I realized I added 5 miles at mile 7 and not 6 miles.. aw darn it... So, I recalculated in my head.. I am going to finish the half marathon under 3 hours... If you could only image how I felt.. I was going to accomplish what I set out to do..  then we turned another corner.. ughh... more hills... ok, I said to myself, " you run hills at home, you can do this" So, I picked my feet up and pushed up the hill.. The last three miles, trainers from Fleet Feet, kept pushing me along.. I was so happy to hear them. My legs were getting stiff and my fingers were frozen. All I kept saying to myself was.. "keep on running... keep on running.." to the tune of Dori on Finding Nemo.. I need to remember this for IM 70.3 New Orleans!.. I turned the last corner and a race volunteer said, "up the hill and you are done".. Ughh another hill.. then I heard my husband.. he was cheering me out and I pushed it to the end! I saw the time and I was going to make the finish line under 3 hours.. WHOO HOO!!... I smiled at the camera and I raised my hands!.. I did it! I pushed though the aches, pains and cold fingers and finished the race. My final time was 2 hours and 55 mins. This was 10 minutes faster than last year! 

What a great feeling! My coach was at the finish line and I gave her a great big smile and hug! It was a great feeling. I know all of my hard work made this possible. I just have to keep remembering to follow the training schedule. I need to keep on BRINGING IT.. 

What a great race!! Tomorrow will be back to training for New Orleans!

Happy Training!
Eling