My first half marathon!

Saturday was the day. My first ever half marathon! It was the American River Parkway half that ran along the beautiful American River bike trail from William Pond park, down past Sac State and back. The weather was better than I could have even hoped for considering the forecast the week before had predicted rain that day! It was even a little warm near the end, so much so that a few people passed out due to heat exhaustion. Luckily I came prepared with water and fuel so the aid stations that ran out near the end didn't even effect me. SacFit taught me well!

For the first half of the race I stayed with some great magentas and we had a great time, but at about mile 7ish I decided to pick up the pace and ended up getting pretty far ahead of them. I had pain in my leg around mile 9, but I made it to the end and that's what matters! I saw that finish line and I sprinted to the end and finished strong! Adrenaline really does wonders at making pain disappear! Sabrina was there at the end waiting for me and ran me in some of the way before I sprinted ahead. I was so ready to be done and so glad I made it to the end! My garmin time was 3:12 and my official time was 3:15. I am pretty happy with that time considering my only goal was to finish. Matt was waiting for me at the finish too with some beautiful flowers!

All in all it was a great race and I can now say I am a half marathoner! My next race is a 5k on June 6th and I am possibly doing the Urban Cow 1/2 in October as well. We shall see if this leg pain can get better with some new shoes and foam rolling. The next SacFit season starts June 12th and I plan on being out there for sure! Possibly as a pace coach, depending on if Ken lets me considering I will miss 3 weeks because of my wedding and honeymoon!

Here are some pics of the race.