My First Half Marathon!!!

Well, I arrived at City Park with the intention on meeting up with Karen and Mr. Karen before the race. When I arrived they were darting back home to pick up a forgotten Garmin (God forbid!) so I stretched and waited. And waited... They are calling the runners to assemble... And waited... and assembled. So I was going at it alone. That's okay. I had my tunes and was ready for a great run. I positioned myself strategically a little way behind the 2:15 bunny. Oh...and I had to pee. But I couldn't pee now. And off I went...

At about 3k, I see a porta-potty...should I stop? Should I stop??? There's a line up of three people. "Well," I figure, "there should be another one coming up here soon and maybe there won't be a line up." So my need to pee really kept me distracted for the first 5K or so - I hit the porta-potty on the second pass. So, totally take 2 minutes off my end time. That shouldn't count.

Now, I had not run the course before but I had looked at the map, and I do know Kelowna quite well, but I had really misread the map. I thought the bulk of the run was on Lakeshore, but it was moreso in East Kelowna. Anyways, this is all relevant because I had some relatives who were going to meet me on Lakeshore to cheer me on. I had arranged to call them when I crossed the highway or had an idea about when I'd be down their way - so if anyone saw a runner on a cell phone, yeah...uh...that would be me. I'd like to hear that message.

Anyways, things were going really quite well. I was feeling good (thanks to my Accel Gel - I freakin' love those!) for quite some time.

So, at about 16K, I started getting a bit itchy. The legs were getting a bit tired and because I didn't know what the course I was like, "where is the next turn off? Where is it????" Then, on Lakeshore, the turnoff finally came. And there was my family cheering me on and taking pics and I got a fantastic burst of energy at around 18K and I tried to hold back but then thought to myself that my goal time was 2:20 and I would kick myself if because I didn't give it my all that I just missed it. So I gave it my all!!! I was in the zone, passin' people, weavin' in and out. I had my Evanescence going and it was awesome.

For about five minutes.

Then things started to hurt.

So I walked a bit. Then I ran a bit. Then I walked a bit again. Then I ran. Then I finished!!!!! Clock time: 2:24:23 Chip time: 2:21:52. Ah well. Just shy of my goal. But hey! My husband got me a trophy and my friends and family were there and I had a banana and I went home.

My first half marathon. Yay me. :-)