My second half! Better than my first!

Today I finished my second half.  This race was a little different than the first, but also similar.  We started at 6:30AM!  So I had to get up at 4:45AM to get there and make it to the starting line on time.  I felt really good for the first 10 miles.  The course was relatively flat (there were some small hills but nothing like the horrid on-ramp of the Battleship) and nice.  We started around the loop at the beach and saw the sun rise.  We ran about 6 miles inside of Landfall, I was afraid that those would be my hardest miles.  They were not.  My hardest miles were the last 2.  I think my lack of sleep was hurting me by this point.  I needed to dig deep to find some extra energy and I just didn't have it.  The 2 girls I was running with started to pull away from me in the last mile. They are both a couple of inches taller than me and their longer legs just ran a pace I couldn't keep up with.  That is ok, I just put on my music and ran it out.  

My official results were 2:07:24 (9:44 pace).  I was 386 out of 1016 women.

That is about a minute and a half faster than my first.  I was happy with that.  I had not been as motivated for this one so I hadn't trained quite as hard.

All 5 of us that trained together got matching shirts.  They were very cute if I say so myself! I put the design together (with their help of course!). Soon I should have a picture of us all at the start, one of the other girls took it.  Once I get it, I will add it!

This is the back of our shirts it says "I couldn't do this alone!"

Here are all of the girls I have been running with... PRE-race :) 

See how DARK it is!

 

This is what 24oo runners looks like! Wow!

(I borrowed this from one of the local Tv station's website)

The 3 of us at about mile 11

Can you see my determination to finish?! This is about mile 12.5
 
 In the home stretch!

 Waving to my family!

At this point I am not sure if I will do another half.  My leg hurts, I am tried, and my body is sore.  But I kind of liken it to childbirth... it may take me awhile to forget the pain so that I am ready to do it again!!