2 thoughts for half marathon number 2

Two seems to be the lucky number here: I raced my second half marathon just yesterday morning and PR'd by over two minutes from Eugene Half in 2010! Second race recap about to commence...

This past Saturday night was a wild, no sleep, butterfly tummy kinda night. It marked one day until Seattle Half Marathon, 10+ weeks of training, and the end of my fundraising of $1000 for Every Mother Counts. Being my second 13.1 ever, I was hesitant about a lot of things, mainly logistics of what to eat/what not eat, how many miles to run the week prior,  which flats to wear etc etc.

1 week before
Knowing that I'm in more of the minimal mileage stage right now, I chose to only run 26 miles last week: 8 mile LR + 3 mile days with minimal workouts. Who knows if this helped or hindered my "race plan" but one thing is for sure, I felt veryyy rested stepping up to the start line.

1 day before 
Festivities started with pasta feed on Saturday day, hosted by the "hostess of the mostess," (Mr. and...) Mrs. Robinson! Birds in the house were spoiled with apps, pasta, vino, salad, and choclatey desserts. Lucky for me, Natty P. joined us for din din and we got to chat a bunch about how she was going to pace me, where she was going to jump in, and my goals for finishing.

Day of...

Sunday morning was race day! Seattle Half started at 7:30 which meant I was up at the crack-o-dawn to eat oatmeal + a banana and get in a positive mind set. The past week I'de been telling myself two thoughts that in a way became my "mantra" for the race: 1. It's going to hurt 2. It's going to be okay.. ha! Wise I know, but for some silly reason it spoke to me and it was on my mind until the start. 

Horn blew and my 1:35 pacing man started running and so I followed.. using my Nike+ watch was a bust, it gave me the wrong splits and stopped half way through but lucky for me I chose not to look at it anyways! First mile started at a 7:40, then sped up each mile. Natty jumped in at mile 2 and from there on out, it was me and Natty the whole way through. 

I remember feeling exhausted at certain miles, having trouble on the hills, and lacking energy at miles 11 and 12. But for each negative there were positives right there with it. It was pretty cold and foggy which I loved. At mile 3 right after the tunnel my bestie was cheering for me and shortly after, my boyfriend and his mama were yelling my name at mile 5. Mile 7 I saw the Nuun setup and Mason gave me a boost of confidence to power through the hilly miles coming up in about 30 seconds from that point. And lastly, the hill up Interlaken which I had been dreading somehow gave me a second wind and I was right by Natty's side when she told me we were going to pick up the pace. 

At mile 13, Natty dropped off to the side and let me stride the last bit to the finish. I heard a women shouting out times and after hearing "1:31...." the biggest sigh of relief hit me. Officially a 1:32:01 time, 18th female overall, and a half marathon PR that I had hoped for! 

I can't say I loved the race, but to say I was proud of myself for the hard work I put in for that morning is a very fair statement.

My family and friends met me at the finish and I was honestly overwhelmed with gratitude for having everyone there to support me yesterday. All the people who I care about most in my life came to cheer me on, and I got to celebrate with a ton of Oiselle teammates who raced their butts off as well. It's always the little things that make racing such an addictive high. Runners know that the love and support that race day brings is unlike anything else.  

Successful day, successful finish and a positive outlook on what my next race will bring me. Here's a few fun photos from Sunday, a little blurry but better than nothing for now! 

I'll put up some more a little later when I get them... and of course we can't forget the epic post race breakfast at Barrio with the crew...

Barrio on Capitol Hill

Kerr ordered me a "recovery" drink of Bailey's and coffee #happycamper  

Mac (*and her thumbies) photo bombing my delicious Mexican style b-fast.

...and the family, rockin #teamEMC! 

Huge congrats to all racers who completed Seattle Half/Marathon yesterday!