I DID IT!!

I finished the 1/2 Marathon!!


THE GOOD: I finished! In 3 hours, 20 minutes and 58 seconds. 15:20 pace, so not quite the goal of a 15 minute/mile, but I still got a cool medal! And a huge blister!

The race course was soooo beautiful. I used Lauren's camera to take pictures, so check back later and hopefully I'll get to post some from the course.

We had a great weekend up in Solvang, with absolutely perfect weather for the race--cloudy and cool in the morning, sun in the afternoon. We went past lavender fields, horse farms, wineries, cows, rolling hills, and apparently some bison but I didn't see those.

My friend Lauren finished the race in 2 hours and 54 minutes, which is pretty awesome, at least to me.

For dinner that night, Grant, Duffy, Lauren and I went to Hitching Post II in Buellton, which was in the movie Sideways. Grant and I are the only adults on Earth who have not seen this movie, but the steak was fabulous. Could have been the 13 miles I had just walked, but it tasted amazing to me!

THE BAD: The race organizers having 3 school buses to transport over 800 people to the starting line. DOH Don't advertise transportation to the starting line if you don't want people to actually use it.

Miles 9.25-11, when I totally slowed down and got off pace. I had been doing so well, walking with Barry, Cynthia, and Irma from training, and we were right on a 15 minute/mile pace. Then I got tired, bored, hungry, and starting focusing on how much my feet hurt and how I wish I wasn't walking anymore. But then about mile 11.5, I hit the town of Solvang and the end seemed in sight, so I was able to finish, a few minutes behind the rest of my group.

THE UGLY: According to these race results http://runsantaynez.com/results/individual2008.htm, I got beat by a woman at least twice my age. In the 70-99 age group, Patricia finished in 2:47! Go Patricia!

Will I still be doing half-marathons at age 70? Probably not. It was fun, and I'm glad I did it, and I'll probably still do training with the Train to End Stroke team, but I just don't think I'm ever going to be one of *those* people--runners. Or people who run 20 miles just to help other people, Gretchen. (She's like a superhero or something) http://dailyadventuresgretch.blogspot.com/2008/05/miwok-100k.html
But it was something I never thought I'd be able to do, and I did it!

Thanks to everyone for their support, and for donating. And if you're super impressed, and would like to help the Stroke Association even more in my honor, you can still donate until June 6th.

Now back to my regularly scheduled program of sitting on the couch. Thanks for reading.