Columbus Half-Marathon

Good Morning!

This weekend was absolutely amazing and I am very excited for relive it via blog post!

Friday was supposed to include a short run before dinner and activities, but that ended up not happening because the apple farm closed a little earlier than we anticipated.  So we headed over to a nice little place where we got apples, pumpkin butter, cider, and apple pie :) mmmm.

After getting our goodies we headed back to Ryan's parents' house then headed to Pizzaria Cerino for dinner. I was starving so had a few too many pieces of bread, a yummy apple and grapefruit salad, and butternut squash raviolis, which were fantastic.  I got the large plate so I could have some leftovers, which will be enjoyed with dinner tonight.  After dinner we headed back for some warm apple pie and ice cream. An indulgent dinner, gotta love carb loading.

Saturday morning we woke up for a short and chilly 3 mile run.  Talk about wind!  We headed down to Columbus after that, first stop: race expo.  Got out bibs, picked up our race shirts (a tiny bit small on me but still love it), and wandered around looking at booths till we got hungry for lunch.  We spent the rest of the day hanging out with our friends (who ran with us the next day) and their families.

5:00 am wake up call Sunday morning!  I had my typical pre-race breakfast of toast, peanut butter, and banana and some water, and by about 6:00 we were all packed up and ready to head downtown.  It was sooo cold!!  I wore capris and a tank, with a long sleeved tech shirt over top before we left our group of spectators to head to our corral.

I could not believe how packed it was!  We ended up climbing over a fence to squeeze into our corral and only had to wait a few minutes before the gun went off.  I was psyched from the beginning, I had a good feeling about this run and I wanted to PR so badly.

The first mile started off very slow, I think we clocked that one about 10:30.  Two of our friends started a corral ahead of us so we never saw them throughout the race, and Bill, Ryan and I started together.  Bill took off right away, never to be seen till the end, and Ryan and I stuck together through the first half of the race.

After a slow first couple of miles, I got some more space to pick up the pace and was going a steady 9:30 and feeling awesome.  I forgot about eating any of my chomps until somewhere in the 6th mile, and ended up eating about 4 the entire race, and gatorade at almost every water station. I took small sips though, because I had to go to the bathroom the ENTIRE race.  Literally, from mile 1... but I was way too stubborn to stop for a potty break, especially when I saw what time I was on pace to finish at.

I started to feel some stiffness and pain in my legs and ankles, especially around mile 10, but the massive amounts of spectators lining all of the streets was so inspiring, so I kept on running.  Finally I was at mile 12, almost to the finish line!  Coming up on mile 13 was a steady uphill, but there were so many people screaming and cheering, it was such an adrenaline rush.  Passed a military band on the right, and there was the mile 13 marker.  A quick left turn, followed by one last stretch of uphill, followed by a downhill sprint to the finish.  I don't think I've ever finished a race at that speed!  I looked down at my watch as I crossed the finish, possibly gave a fist pump and a "Yes!" as I saw that beautiful time, 2:07!  Officially 6 minutes faster than my previous half PR.

I WAS SO EXCITED!!!

I got my blanket, medal, and water bottle and found a good spot on some steps to watch for Ry to finish.  I had a view of finishers coming into the food area and could also see the finish line projected on a big screen so tried to keep an eye on both.  The first friend I saw was Bill (great job Bill!), then just two minutes later I saw Ryan crossing the finish line!

Congrats Ryan, I am so so so proud of you for kicking butt in your first half!

Overall, this was an amazing race.  So many fans, so much adrenaline, a beautiful, relatively flat course. I look forward to running this again in the future (possibly a full? dream big)

Bummed I didn't take any pictures though!  I need to start carrying a camera around with me, I've missed a lot of picture worthy moments and that needs to change.

Try to enjoy your Monday ;)