An 18 minute PR

I ran my second half marathon yesterday. It was the most perfect morning for a race and the whole thing went really smooth and fast.

I started the morning with my pre-race oatmeal which never fails my stomach and got to the race in the perfect amount of time to hit up the bathroom line and pick up my bib. Before I knew it we were off.

Finishing the race. I am the one in purple still running (Why is that lady walking across the finish?)

To be honest I went out way too fast and probably ran a 27 minutes 5K to start off the race. I felt amazing until mile seven and a half when the course I ran went out along the great highway and was flat and long out and back for the next five miles. It was boring and played mind tricks on me and I had a hard time keeping my pace. I realized I don't like flat straight running courses. I love hills (not crazy steep ones but just rolling ones) because I can use different muscles and take a break on the downhills.

I was glad I banked some time because I slowed down a crazy amount after mile eight. In fact I know this next race I want to attempt a negative split and save more energy for the end. My next few weeks of training need to focus on speed in the last three to four miles.

Oh! My finish time was 2:07:35. Two minutes faster than my goal and 18 minutes faster than my previous half marathon. Wow! I am very excited to start training for Shamrock and I think a sub two is somewhere in my future.And big thank you to my lovely boyfriend for waiting around for two hours and holding all my stuff while I ran. He's the best.

Me and Lauren post race.