Half Marathon #1 in the books!

Whew! One down, more to come. After a long harsh winter, spring made herself known April 6 and in perfect timing. Newmarket NH was a great little town to experience my first half marathon. I got there early and met a few new friends, one woman who had just run a half marathon the day before and was there to run the 5k. The course went through the great brick building lined main street and out into local neighborhoods before winding through the forest on a hard packed dirt road. The last couple miles involve a heartbreaking (for me) out and back to a subdivision on a peninsula. From there you start back into the main street area, which is just in sight when the volunteers direct you to the right for a small detour and another hill! Once up that last hill (last of many, did I mention that?) it's all downhill to the finish line. At this point I turned to the runner next to me who was kicking it up a notch and said "Nice work, finish strong!" to which he replied "Together?". I nodded and tried to keep pace as we sprinted for the finish, unfortunately this sprint began about 300 meters out and I just didn't have it in me to stay with him so I cheered him on as he sprinted down to the line. We shared a high five and a smile at the end, it was a great day.

At mile 11 I wanted to quit. My lower back was killing me and my legs felt like dead weight. If I came around a bend to another incline, regardless the size, I was cursing in my head. I find it nearly impossible to believe my pace at the end was the same at the beginning but it was. I was able to average 9:07/ miles and finished in 2:02:39. I had secretly been hoping against hope that I could pull it off in 2:00. Then, on the bus ride in the woman in the seat ahead of me replied "oh, it's hilly" when I inquired about the course. At that point I adjusted my goal to 2:20 so I was quite thrilled with my finish.

I had a wonderful time at this race, it was well organized and everyone was courteous and friendly.  There were musicians throughout the course, even a banjo player playing a tune and hula-hooping simultaneously. There was a yard full of red-solo-cup bearing folks cheering us on and such great support throughout the whole race. Best signs? "Keep Going! Keep Going! (That's what she said)" sitting next to "Good Job Random Stranger!". Great day. 

At the Finish Line in 2:02:39   

The Route