2:41:51

"Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive"

Every half marathon I have done has a specific song that I associate with that particular race, the song that kept me going. This time it was the old stand-by "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, which for some reason had never made it onto my playlist before last night. I think I must have thought that there were some songs too cheesy for even me to consider, but apparently I could not be more wrong, because it was kind of awesome and got me through the last and toughest 5K of the race.

Bottom line, I did very, very well. Better than I expected. I was able to run all my run intervals (I cut only one about forty five seconds short, it was around mile 11 I think and I got a cramp that I needed to work out, I did the race in 3R/1W intervals) and for the most part keep the self talk positive. I was also able to not look at my Garmin (thus not being discouraged or pressured by what it said) and for the first time I found myself following a "pacer". I've never been fast enough at any of these for there to be a pacer actually going as slow as me, but there was a 2:45 pacer at this race. At one point I had passed him (around mile 9, probably while listening to Eye of the Tiger and feeling invincible, but then again, maybe he was just behind), but he caught up with me and I never did pass him again, but the thing was, he crossed the start line at least five minutes before I did, so I knew that as long as I had him in sight, I must be pretty darn close to my goal pace.

It seems like there was more stuff I wanted to say but I am tired now and I still need to go to the grocery store and I promised my kids (who got up at 3:15 AM and schlepped their butts down to City Park just to support me and watch me cross the finish line) ice cream some time today.

I might point out that I beat my last PR by a full 12 minutes. Sidebar updated appropriately. I might also point out that in my current state of euphoria I am totally convinced that I can do Vegas in 2:30. We'll see how long that lasts. I also feel really good about this race because I freakin' killed it, and there was no altitude advantage, I did it all on my own.

Also, I forgot to add that my bib had my name on it for this race, I've never had that before and it made me feel absurdly important as well as allowed perfect strangers on the course to cheer me on by name, which was pretty cool.