Parkway Half Marathon

After 12 weeks of vigorous training that included almost 200 miles and about 20,000 calories later, I completed the American River Parkway Half Marathon this morning! There were 2500 participants and when I crossed the finish line they announced over the loud speaker that I had finished one of the top 50 women. In my age group I was 22 out of 145. But overall, I'm not exactly sure yet what my official ranking is because they haven't posted it but that didn't really matter to me because I was done!

In the groove.

Pre-race I had a silver dollar sized blister on the arch of my left foot so I was pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to finish the race due to pain. Thanks to mole skin it didn't bother me at all! During the race I tried to keep a constant pace, one a little slower than normal because I had only ran 9 miles before the big day and I thought that if I went faster that I might wear myself out.

I ran with the girl next to me for practically the whole time. It was nice to have someone next to you for moral support. My pace was 8:30 per mile and I finished in 1 hour and 52 minutes. It was so nice to come to the finish line and see Andrew and Carson waiting for me and cheering me on.

So I'm sure some of you are curious about any injuries that occurred due to running. For starters, my left foot is in pretty bad shape with a couple of blood blisters. I even have one on the tip of my second toe-ouch, that one kills! I also am suffering from a little chaffing from the bottom of my sports bra, that is a place I was not expecting. Overall though I had a good experience and after recouping I just might consider doing another one, no promises though.