The Woodlands Half Marathon was last weekend, Saturday, March 3, 2018. I have been training for this race for a while. I have done it many years, but this year, I really wanted to try and get a personal record and break under 1:40. In the past couple months, I had been training and trying to keep my pace right at 7:30 per mile. When race week came, I was so nervous. I think the emotions of having a new calling at church, so much going on this month with my brother coming, grandma coming, spring break, the rodeo, Ella going to girls camp, the doom of my birthday...etc, I felt very overwhelmed. In all of that, I did, however feel very supported by Heavenly Father. He had done many things to show me he cared about me and was supporting me. The kids had been praying for great weather as it was forecasted to rain, and the weather that day could not have been more perfect.
The day before the race, my awesome friend Jen had this sign put up, and Amy and Becky both brought me good luck tokens. I usually don't share my emotions, but given the fact I was freaking out, I think they were kind enough to try and cheer me on and encourage me through it! In reality, I was supposed to be the one encouraging them! This was their first half marathon, and they had come from only running a couple miles to a half marathon. I was so proud of their hard work.
The morning of the race, I felt good. I drove down with some friends, Emily, Kim, Becky, and Jennifer.
Here we are about to head out to the starting line..looking for a bathroom that didn't have a massive line!
The race started out so well. I was staying at my 7:30 pace til mile 9. At mile 9 I hit a wall, mentally. It was partially my fault. I had only trained that fast til mile 10 and I didn't equate how difficult it would be to finish off the last 3 miles. Unfortunately, I slowed down to about 8:00 min miles, and then at mile 12 I saw my friend Emily and lost it. While I was proud of her, I was so discouraged that I had trained so hard and I knew I couldn't get my time at that point.
All in all, I raced my best. My time for 13.1 on my watch if I would have stopped it at exactly the half marathon mark would have been right over 1:42. As you can see from my watches, the race was a little long, so that put me at an ending time of 1:43:07 officially on the website.
I didn't reach my goal, but I did p.r., even if it was only by like 30 seconds.
I waited to watch my friends finish. Jennifer and Becky finished strong!
A little while later, Amy came through the finish line. Her knee was hurting, but she made it!
I am so glad I asked these ladies to run with me several months ago. They were so brave and consistent with their training and they made it to the finish line! There is nothing like your first race. It's always a special one.
Emily has been through all of my races in the Woodlands with me year after year. She keeps me pushing hard.
I am so grateful for my families support. My parents and sister were kind enough to come early and cheer me on. They have been at many of my races, and I am grateful to see their smiling faces at the end! Ragnar's parents sent me messages, my kids kept me in all of their prayers and would pray for me to do well, and my sister Marisa got me flowers.
I am also super grateful for Daphne. She came all the way from Louisiana to support me. She kept telling me I could do it.
and..Last, but certainly not least, I am so grateful for Ragnar's support. He is there to hear my constant stress over my pace splits, or my anxiety on race day. He is there to comfort me, and to massage out my aching body. He even bought me a new watch to train with for Valentine's Day. I am lucky to have him always supporting my love of running. Til next year!
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