Pinehurst Turkey Trot

For the past several month, Jeff and I have been training for a half-marathon in Pinehurst, NC. The Paxton's convinced and inpired us to take the venture on. Gradually, we've been working up to the race distance of 13.1 miles. Saturdays have been filled with taking turns on our long runs that have generally been over two hours or so. Last weekend, when I got back from my first attempt at 13.1 miles in just over 2 hours and 10 minutes or so, Jeff asked how my run went. I was pretty excited to have finally met the actual race amount, and thinking that I only needed to run the distance one more time before the actual race. Then, Jeff let me know that the race was the following Saturday, or the 22nd! I have to say I was pretty excited to know that it was one week earlier. This last week, we've been doing just light runs, eating lots of white things like pasta, and mentally preparing ourselves. Saturday morning, we dropped the kids off with the Paxton's just after 6:00 in the morning, and drove just over an hour-and-a-half to our race. It was pretty chilly, and by the end of the race my hands didn't work anymore even though I had been wearing light gloves but it was totally worth it! Jeff ran with me for the first little bit, and I could even see his bright Jacket ahead of me for the first third or so of the race, but the rest of the race I just spent racing myself and focusing on passing a few people who were in my field of vision. The course was pretty hilly, which is Jeff's favorite, so he passed people on the hills. I just tried to keep the same pace and short quick steps, especially when I was a bit tired or cold. When there was only half a mile left in the race, I knew that I wanted to end on a great note, and so I passed a guy in front of me, which is so much more liberating than passing a girl for some reason :) I'm not sure if it was the same guy, or a different guy who I later heard right on my tail, but I was determined to not let him pass me. I came up the final hill to see and hear Jeff cheering me on, he's finished approximately 12 minutes before me and had time to grab the camera from the car. The finish was a sprint, because I couldn't let the guy just behind me pass me. As soon as we got across the finish line, I told him thanks for the motivation :) He was a good sport about it too, at least I think he was. Jeff finished with a time of 1 hour 49 minutes and 15 seconds, more than qualifying for the National Marathon that he wants to do come march. I finished in 2 hours 1 minute 29 seconds, beating my personal best by about 10 minutes or so. It was a great experience, and made me want to do more races! Thanks for the training help Paxtons, and for helping us on our way!