Race Recap - 1/2 marathon PR!!

This is what a PR looks like!!

Let me just start by saying that the race went amazingly well!  I finished with a time of 1:54:40.  So yah, totally blew my 2 hour goal out of the water - which is shocking and so wonderful at the same time!

The race started at 7:30 am so we got up at 5:45 to make sure we had enough time for breakfast.  I was super hyper in the morning, which isn't really typical, so I think my body was ready to race.  We headed down, Lauren snapped some photos, and we were off!

Here are my splits:

Mile 1 - 9:12
Mile 2 - 8:42
Mile 3 - 8:42
Mile 4 - 8:42 (wow, I was consistent!)
Mile 5 - 8:16
Mile 6 - 8:27
Mile 7 - 8:33
Mile 8 - 8:50
Mile 9 - 8:38
Mile 10 - 8:44
Mile 11 - 8:50
Mile 12 - 8:29
Mile 13 - 8:31
.25  - 8:16 pace (the course measured .15 long on my garmin)


So all in all, I ran a really strong race - my only split > 9 minutes was the first one when we were weaving in and out of people (which is my least favorite part of every race!).  I felt great at the finish and my only casualty is a blister on my left foot.

The first people I emailed were my coaches from the run club.  If it wasn't for those guys, I never would have achieved this goal.  They pushed me all summer and totally changed my approach to training.  The course was sort of rolling hills, so all those hills runs I did really benefited me today.  They kept believing in me and telling me I could do it, even when I doubted it.

Victoria was definitely a great course and I would come back here in a heartbeat, perhaps to do the marathon some day!  And we all PR'd - Amber & Leigh both ran sub-2 hour halves, and Lauren finished her full in around 3:44 (holy cannasta, she is a speedy runner!!!).

Now it's back to exploring and enjoying this gorgeous city!!!