WI Half Marathon

This was my 1st run ever that I decided to run for a goal time.  I wanted to race this one and see if I could do a half marathon in under 2 hours.  My 1st half marathon was in Jan and goal for that one was to complete it - which I knew I could do.  Then in my training for this half marathon on both of my longest run days there just happened to be other half marathons going on so I ran those just as training runs - even though I PR'd each time.  This one I wanted to push myself and for the 1st time ever I got the pre-race jitters as I was setting out my race stuff.  I ended up getting a bad sleep that night, got up and ready way too early and was way overly excited and thought there was no way I could PR by a little over 6 minutes.

I started out way to fast and knew it.  I thought I should slow down but then talked myself into keeping pace since I thought I could keep that pace up for the whole race.  Loved running through Kenosha and was surprised at the amount of people cheering you on with cowbells which I also thought was perfect for a Wisconsin marathon.  Did fine all the way through mile 9 and then the wind which was not horribly bad combined with the rolling hills started to get to me.  I had a slight pain in my sides and felt like I was barely moving.  Looked at my Garmin and knew I was slowing but still thought I might be able to make my goal and I was out there to push myself anyway.
Even though I took water at all of the water stops and walked through the water stops I was feeling dehydrated at about mile 11 and was so glad when I saw the water stop just before mile 12.  That also happened to be the point where the half marathoners split from the marathoners.  I did have some Garmin issues so I really was not sure how I was doing on total time but I figured no matter what time I got I was going to push myself to leave everything on the race course.  That last mile was really rough but when I got close enough to see the clock at the finish line I knew I had met my goal - official time was 1:57:04 - a PR by 9 minutes!!!  And yes although I don't have a picture of it I did raise my arms.  I am so very proud of myself knowing that I gave it everything I had and actually raced a half marathon.  (Oh yeah, this was also the first race wearing Newtons.  Love the shoes!!)

I stayed for a little while afterward and cheered on some of the marathoners finishing.  Was my 1st time cheering on other runners and I loved it.  Someday I will be a marathoner like all those people - and if all goes well it will be the Chicago marathon in October. I was very emotional watching marathoners finish especially watching kids run the last little part next to their parents.  Everyone out there running is a winner.