3M Half Marathon

I ran the 3M Half Marathon this morning, and it went really well.

First of all, the weather amazing.  It was in 30's/40's the entire time {so much better than last year's warm/humid weather}, and although my feet were somewhat numb when we first started, I quickly warmed up, and the cool air felt great.

Several of the women in my running group ran 3M this year, and although we didn't all run it together, we did a pretty good job of breaking into groups so that no one had to run it alone.  My personal goal was to run it faster than I did last year and try my best to keep up with Stephanie. 

The race started at 6:45 a.m. at the Arboretum, and after running 13.1 miles, we finally crossed the finish line on Congress just south of the Bob Bullock Museum.  Ben, Holly, and Nelson came out to cheer me on, and I loved the fact that I got to see them a total of 5 times along the course and then at the finish line. 

Holly even made a hot pink poster that said, "my sister runs faster than your sister", and it was definitely the best one that I saw out there.  Some of my other favorites were "pain is weakness leaving the body", "pain is temporary but pride is forever", and "toenails are for wimps".  Haha -- so true.

Unfortunately, my shoe came untied at mile 12, so I lost a little bit to time with that, but I ended up crossing the finish line at 1:58:58 with an average pace of 9:05 per mile.  I was completely exhausted at the finish, but considering my time was 7 minutes faster than last year, I was very happy with my time -- and the fact that I didn't have to run anymore.

Thanks so much to Ben, Holly, and Nelson for coming out to cheer me on.  Y'all are definitely the best fans, and I love all of you!