Half marathon race report

I ran my second half marathon on Saturday, May 29th. For the non-runners reading this, that's 13.1 miles. I smoked my previous time by almost 20 minutes and finished in 1:56:09! The end.

Short, sweet, and to the point--not my kind of blog entry. Haha! See photos and captions below for a more Kate-like experience.

My tried-and-true pre-race fuel: a peanut butter cup flurry. Makes me run like the wind! (No joke--I was aiming for a 2hr10min finish, and came cruising in at 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 9 seconds. That's an average of 8:51 per mile.)

I've used this not-so-clean method of carb loading all throughout my training. It got me through my 25K (15.5 miles) in 2 hours and 26 minutes. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Race day! All dressed up and nowhere to go... oh wait, not true. I have a finish line to get to, 13.1 miles away!

Forgive the under-eye circles. The time on the clock started with a 4 and the night before was a restless one. Would I be able to maintain my pace? Would I meet the expectations everyone else had for me? Eek! So much to think about! No wonder I was distracted for literally the entire race. My mind was ALL over the place, which actually made the distance pass quickly. Thoughts were random and feet were flying!

I did eat my usual pre-run breakfast of toast and peanut butter (I brought my own!) with honey and a banana. Again...why mess with a good thing? Nothing new on race day!

I'm in there... waaaay in the back, all tiny and stuff. The H took this as I was nearing the final stretch before the finish chute.

Finished! And looking gooood. :D This is me and my awesome runnin' mom. It was also her second half marathon.

Why yes, I would like to sit down.

And yes, I smiled like that all day--it was RACE day!--except for the time I yelled at The H when he was being all nice and supportive and encouraging and trying to help me kick at the end. I was hurting, what can I say?

After the race, I took a short nap before The H and I went to our two favorite wineries and out to dinner with my parents. Dinner will be a separate post--we splurged at a local, sustainable restaurant I'd been hoping to try for quite some time. It did not disappoint! Stay tuned.