Austin Half Marathon

Yesterday, Justin & I completed the 2010 Austin Half Marathon held in downtown Austin. This is "the" race that we train for each year from August-February... and this particular race draws in about 15,000 runners from all over. We are always happy to be a part of it!

It was another early race morning for us: up at 4:45, out the door by 5:30, and parked downtown by just after 6:00am. Justin's parents came into town this past Friday to visit and keep the kids for us while we were running on Sunday morning; they all headed downtown to watch us too! (More on that later...)

The morning was beautiful. It was in the mid-40's when the gun went off at 7am, and then in the lower-50's by the time we were done around 9am. It was perfect weather!

My friend, Christa, ran this race too. We've both been training with Round Rock Fit all season, and both are seriously thinking about training for & running the full marathon next February!

The race went really well. Justin's parents were set up around mile 6 to cheer us on; they saw Justin (and vice-versa), but I never saw them & they never saw me. I was just a couple of minutes behind Justin at the time, and I think they were expecting me to be a bit further back. Nonetheless, they ended up missing Justin cross the finish line, but saw me, so I guess everything turned out well & evened out in the end!

Justin finished in 2 hours flat! (a 9:10 pace)

I finished in 2 hours, 16 minutes. (a 10:22 pace)

To top it all off, yesterday was Valentine's Day, so our shirts were red/white themed, our medals were red/white themed, and both even had hearts on them! SO CUTE!!

I'll certainly always remember this race & we are very appreciative to Justin's parents for coming to watch us, bring the kids to watch us, and cheer us on! Cheering squads are great!!

I have ONE MORE half marathon to complete this year; I'm running the "Big D" Dallas Half Marathon in mid-April with my best friend, Julie. It's her first half & I'm so excited to get to share this experience with her!

(It'll be my 7th half; I'm still in total disbelief that I've done so many of them! I would've never believed anyone if they would've told me 10 years ago that I'd be completing 3 half marathons in 2010, and starting to train for a full marathon. Unbelievable. I thank God for the strength & determination to train & finish each & every one of them!!)