Red White and Boom 2016

Red White and BOOM Half Marathon

July 4, 2016

Minneapolis, MN

Time: 1:43:53

After almost 5 years, I PR'ed in the half marathon. Tucker was generous enough to give Hassan and I a ride to the start line and was a savior for riding his bike along the course and cheering us on.  It defintely kept me going.

After a nice mile or so warm up, we lined up at the start and met with Maria from our running group.  The weather was great for being July, a little humid, but overall great.  The race started out well, the goal was to run 8:00 minute miles for the first 4 miles and then 7:55 miles and hold that as long as possible.  The first few miles went by uneventful.  Around mile 4, we hit the big hill on Theo Wirth - that was the first time I thought PR'ing was a lofty goal.  Getting to the top of the hill and finding our groove, we cruised on.

Mile 7.5 water stop was run by Club Run, it was a great milestone to work for - seeing their smiling faces and knowing that we were over halfway done.  We lost Maria after the water stop.  Mile 10, I hit my wall.  I gasped to Hassan to tell him I was dying.  I felt like I was sprinting but was so discouraged when I looked down at my watch and saw that I was going at an 8:15 mile.  Tucker pedaled passed us on his bike yelling words of encouragement, and somewhere around mile 11ish, I decided I had come too far to not PR and decided to just do it.  Running across the Stone Arch bridge was the LONGEST strectch ever.  I thought I had picked it up but was getting passed the whole way across.  I checked my watch and knew I was going to do it and hit my goal!!!

Hassan came in a few seconds after me and we shared a sweaty hug and some snacks in the finish area and went off to find Tucker. It was hard to hold back tears by achieving this goal!