Saturday, October 11, 2008

Complete Half Marathon...Check!




I completed my very first official half-marathon today in Hartford, supposedly among the top 10 marathons in the country.

We woke up to a beautiful, wonderful, superb, gorgeous day. Could not have been more perfect...that was a good start! The gun, that we didn't hear, went off at 8 AM, which worked to my advantage because most days I'm already done running and showered by then.

I have run 13.1 miles two other times. Both were by myself while we were on vacation in St. Thomas and then Maine "just for fun". Its quite a different experience doing it with thousands of other people.


My sister Bethany (who gave me the invitation to run with her back in July) and I hung together until about mile 10. At that point she hit a little wall and I felt so good, like I could run for forever, so we separated but still ended up with very close finish times.


I finished in 2:05, which exceeded my under 2:15 goal. For those of you who care and are math-challenged like me, that works out to be a 9:35 pace. I was happy with it and now have a bench mark to work against next time.


One of the funniest moments of the day for me happened before the race even started. There was a line of 40, maybe more, port-a-potties. In front of each one was a line of 10-15 people deep, waiting.


This dude comes around the corner clearly focused on taking care of his business or the race or something. Anyway, without even noticing any of the people waiting, he began to go down the line and check each door, to no avail. He made it down to #20 or so before someone finally said something to him.


I found it very amusing.


Other highlights of the day:


A very generous organic food buffet was served post-race, as well as free massages. Did I mention the weather and foliage were magnificent?


The course was diverse. We ran on a four-lane highway, across railroad tracks, along the Connecticut River, through a park, past houses and storefronts and along city streets with tall buildings, including the Capitol.


It was a very special day and a happy memory. My sister Bethany is the tall blonde. I...am not, although she's a skilled hairdresser and could make me blonde if I wanted. Being the shortest by several inches of the four kids in my family I blame on my early affinity for coffee! :)









12 comments:

  1. Quite a feat! I'm very proud of you. I admire your diligence and discipline in exercising everyday. It sure was a beautiful day for it. I'm glad you and B could hang together so long. Full marathon in your future?!?

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  2. Way to go!!!! Next time I'm running whether I'm invited or not!

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  3. Nice job Lisa! I finished in 2:29:32. BOPer but had a blast! I'm in for next year, how about you??

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  4. Great job!! You all amaze me! Can't wait to see pics!

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  5. Congrats, Lisa! I am so impressed...and you did it in such a great time too. Looking forward to the pictures...and really, does anybody sweat pretty?? :) I know I don't!

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  6. What strength! congrats Lisa. You blog page is beautiful. Its nice to see you guys! xoxo Traci Leep

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  7. Great job my friend! I am so proud of you. And really you don't sweat pretty because I do actually some of my best pics are when I am sweaty! :)

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  8. Great job! I was training for one of those last summer.
    I worked my way up to seven miles before I quit.

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  9. Congratulations! That's quite a feat!

    Can't say I would want to be one of the masseuses touching all those sweaty runners!

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  10. Good job Lisa! I love to hear your version of the race... all I got from Donnie was the guys version... and all about his time and how he could have done better. :o) I want to start running! You inspire me!

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  11. Congrats! Looks like it was a great race, and awesome time. I averaged 10:49 for my marathon, but gained most of my time off the 9:30 pace at the last 6 miles. My pr for the marathon was 10:15... so definitely room for improvement. Good luck getting into Boston!

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