Half Marathon and Baby Steps

I finished my first half marathon after baby! BJ and I set off on December 19 for Jacksonville, FL. Granna and Papa came down at the last minute to dutifully watch baby Mitch. I know what a hardship it was on them, but we got to head to JAX just the two of us :). Thank You!

On Saturday I went to pick up my race package and got to meet Hal Higdon. He is a very famous marathoner, and has a new book out. I can't wait to read it, but I have faithfully followed his training program for a very long time. Needless to say I was star struck. So we met up with a few friends, had a fabulous pasta dinner and down for the night to get up bright and early for race morning.

Race morning, cold! Less than 40 degrees outside and we head out for the start of the race. The gun goes off and I felt so good. I ran along side another man who had a similar pace for about 3 miles. It was nice having a running buddy. I kept up about an 8 min. pace for the first 8 miles and then tapered off a little bit.

My goal was to do better than my last half, my next goal was a 2 hr half, but the ultimate goal was to finish in under 2 hrs. I DID IT! I finished a personal best in 1:57. I had a blast.

It's finally time to head home to see our little guy. We sit on the floor and play for a little while. Not to be outdone by Mommy Mitch decides it's time to take his first steps. He thinks about it for a minute and then like a little rocket-shoots toward me. It was so fun. Mitch practices for alittle while and in the end takes 2 steps a few times. Yay! What an awesome weekend!