New Hampshire Half Marathon

Wow, we did it!  We did 12 weeks of training for the half marathon.  We had really great weather for most all of the training.  We only did a couple of treadmill runs, thankfully.  While we were in AL, I hurt my back and it set me back about a week.  Craig hurt his back a few weeks ago and it set him back a few days too.  Our last long run was last week and it was 12 miles.  Two days before that run, I did a hardcore leg workout thinking my rest day would give me time to recover.  Boy, was I wrong.  I was hurting so bad.  I only ran 10 miles and walked the other 2.  So, leading up to the race, I had only completed 11 miles so far.  I didn't have a goal time for the race, other than I wanted to finish with NO walking and I didn't want to go over a 10 minute pace. 

Craig had done great through the training.  He is a good bit faster than me.  Sometimes he would run with me and sometimes he would run at his pace during training.  Craig had a goal to finish the race before 2 hours.

A few days prior, the weather said it was going to be raining and the temperature was going to be around 38.  I was really hoping it would turn out to be sunny somehow.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day and I could not be more thankful.  It was pretty cold.  We had to pick up our bags at 7:30, and be on the bus by 8.  The race gun didn't go off till 9, so we were just standing in the cold waiting on the bathroom.  The first 3 miles were pretty cool and our toes were numb.  By mile 4, we were warming up and it was a pretty nice hill.  At mile 9, I had the biggest mental fight.  My calves were killing me, the balls of my feet hurt, and I was getting tired and knew I had 4 more miles left and I was NOT walking!  I normally do not stop for drinks, but I couldn't get to the table quick enough on mile 10 and 12.  I needed Gatorade SO bad.  I was so so so happy to see the finish line.  After getting some water, I sat on the ground (big mistake), and could barely get back up! HA  We got a little snack, checked out our times and were on our way!  It was a wonderful experience and I'm So glad we did it and So glad we did it together.  The Lord truly helped us every step of the way and we could not be more thankful.

Craig did beat his goal.  He ran it in 1:56:49, which was a pace of 8:55.  Awesome!

I actually beat my 10 minute pace goal too.  I ran it in 2:07:42, which was a 9:45 pace.  Thankful!

Before

After (lol)  Obviously, because we are in our garage!

These sweet girls are our BIGGEST cheerleaders!

They were not with us, but they were VERY well taken care of while we were gone.  Thank you very much to our sweet friends!