13.1

Well I did it!  My knees are currently hating the hills in downtown Atlanta right now, but during the race I felt great!  If you remember from this post, I said that I really just wanted to run the entire time and wasn't going to set a time goal.  Well, as the time got closer and I got a better feel for my pace on the longer runs (10, 11 and 12 miles), I decided that I would be happy for a time between 2:10 and 2:20. 

Robert ended up having a basketball playoff game this morning, so he didn't get to be there for the finish.  But he was a trooper and woke up at 6 to drop me off.  At first I was bummed he wouldn't be there, but I knew if it weren't for the basketball game he would have been there to cheer me on.  The race began at 6:55 for the wheelchair division and 7:00 for the runners.  I was in corral K, so not in the front by not in the last group (like I have been for the Peachtree for the last 2 years).  It actually worked out really well because I started exactly 10 minutes into the race-which made figuring out my time easy since I forgot to grab my watch.

We got to run through some pretty cool parts of Atlanta...downtown, 4th Ward, Little Five Points, Va-Highlands, Piedmont Park, GA Tech, and then back downtown.  The weather was perfect, a tad warm at 60 but there was a nice cloud cover so we weren't being scorched.  The last 4 miles of the race were hard-not because I had run 9 miles but because it was basically up hill the entire time (note to self, next half marathon pick a FLAT location).  But I guess it was all worth it because I ended up running the entire time (goal 1, check) and did it in 2:09:09-a 9:51 pace (goal 2,check)! 

When it was all over, I met a friend of ours and her husband for a few minutes and then got in the car and drove to play in a basketball game.  I'm not really sure how I managed to get suckered into playing EVERY game (when I was supposed to be a sub/only play if they were going to forfeit).  But it was the playoffs and the other girl was running the half marathon with her aunt so she was going to be later.  We ended up winning the first game and had to play in the championship game an hour later, which we won as well.   


I'll post pictures from the race when they post them...since it was just me, I didn't have anyone to take pictures pre or post race.  I must say though, I'm looking forward to the Peachtree 10K.  It's going to seem so easy only being 6.2 and only 2 hills!