Half Fast 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday I participated in the Half Fast 1/2 Marathon, which was put on by Tri Fitness out of White Bear Lake. Chris and I headed south Friday night, we carbo loaded on pasta at Applebee's and stayed at Emily's house in Coon Rapids.We didn't get down until 10:00 Friday night, the next morning we were up and out the door by 7:00 am.

We arrived in Vadnais Heights ready to run! It was a chilly morning, here's a 'before' picture.

I chose to run in this race for 2 reasons, one reason was that I wanted to try a 1/2 marathon in February and this one was the only race that worked with my schedule and the other reason was it was only $40, which was right in my budget! The course was not the greatest, considering that we had to wait at a very busy intersection for the police to stop traffic for us! This is the first time that I've ever had to actually stop mid-race and wait for cars! None of the roads were blocked off for this race either, so there was a lot of dodging cars that made me a little nervous! Thank goodness I wasn't trying to set my PR!

Ever since the Twin Cities Marathon I've been getting pains in the sides of me knees, which feel like knives jabbing into them, when I run long distances! This happened around mile 7, UGH! From the online research I've been able to narrow this injury down to Runners Knee, or Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. This is very painful but didn't slow me down too much. I finished with a time of 1:53:01, not too bad considering the knee pain. Chris and I started out betting who would win, but we both started feeling some pain, so we decided to tie, and we did. Somehow he placed 73rd and I placed 74th, but we finished with the same time. I guess he lucked out on this one!!

Here's a pictures of us racing for the finish! There is a guy behind us that was trying to pass us, we kicked it down and he never caught up to us!!! Woo Hoo!

Here's some more 'after' the race pictures. We were both pretty happy to be done running!

One of the race sponsors was Saks Sports Bar, they held an awards ceremony after the race. Chris and I   went there for some junk food. We did just burn 1300 calories. We went with the chicken nachos! YYYYUUUUMMMM!

Up next the Get Lucky half Marathon on St. Patricks day! AND Grandma's Marathon training starts Tuesday!!

A BIG thank you to Lauren for kid/dog/cat sitting for me in Hibbing and Emily and Dave for letting us stay at your house!