Born to Run.... I hate false humility, so please allow me to toot my horn!

These are the photos Brian took as he came out to support my half marathon run last Sunday, May 20th in Olympia for the Capital City Marathon. (It was my third time running this race. But i haven't run it in 14 years.) 

So  please bear with me as i tell you how excited i was to finish this race in the way that i did ...I like having this on record because i might actually consider doing it again! I know i said i wouldn't, but i might.  Because when i look back on it, it really was a great challenge for me,, and a good thing to do in our terrible dreary winter months.  And all those carbs i eat during this time went to a good cause and not to my ass. 

1. I also kept a spreadsheet of my training. I started before the big NW Pacific snowstorm on Jan. 15th. 

2. In those four months I have run a total of 3965 minutes which comes out to average about 4 hours each week. That's a lot for me considering my old running schedule for the past dozen years was a 35 minute run about 5 times a week, sometimes 4 and closer to only 2 hours a week. 

3. I set a goal of 2 hour 15 minutes but I was alittle worried about not being able to run that fast so i gave myself a second goal of no longer than 2 hours and 30 min. 

4. My official race time was 2:02:32, a pace of less than 9 1/2 min. for 13.1 miles. I didn't really believe that i could have run it that fast. I was in the top 40+% of all runners (1248 runners total), most of whom are much younger. AND i placed in the top 10 of my age division (of the 49 runners in my division i was #8). 

5. I was soooo excited, because i purposely never tried to figure out how fast i running when i was training -  i simply ran for time, so i had no idea when i was running if i was going 9 minute miles or 12 minute miles. 

6. OH yeah, i forgot to mention, something i also didn't know: This race was HILLY. LONG gradual hills, but i'm actually better at those than most and i passed many younger folks going up those hills (and i never saw them again). 

7. I was never bored, even without music. I ran with one young woman named Kim, in the beginning of the race for about 3 miles for awhile and that was fun because we talked and that helped. But after that i was on my own. 

SO enough about that.  I know this is redundant for the Facebookers. So sorry for that, but also thank you for the support! it really helped!  I know that announcing my goal back in January on Facebook might be key to making me keep my commitment because i hate not following through. So i'm glad that people kept commenting on it because it kept me going. 

Thank you all for indulging me! My husband is so great too!  He was there to record it all, and give me kudos, told all his friends and family, and he told me i could do this too. 

That's HIS hat i am wearing because he made me take it. (I call it the Fidel Castro hat). It started raining just before the race started and  I didn't think i wanted it, but he insisted and in the end i was so glad to have it. Or i would have been worried that my mascara would have run! It rained the whole damn time, never stopping. But i didn't mind it. 

So what i would like to hear from y'all is what would YOU like to toot YOUR own horn about right now? Come and tell us!!!!