1/2 Marathon

January 31st, 2015 - I ran in the Roaring Run half Marathon in Scio, Oregon with Meagan, Brandi and Joy.

We stayed the night together in a nearby hotel and then got up to run the race.  Meagan ran with me the whole way (she hadn't registered for the race, so she was there as support), Joy and Brandi ran together.   We were there with a lot of time to spare and they had an early start, so we decided to do it.  I was the most skeptical, becaus I knew it meant that Meagan and I would be toward the front of the pack and that made it feel almost like any other training run, rather than a race.  We did end up with only one other guy in the early start in front of us.  I felt quite good until mile 9 or so and then I really slowed down.  I didn't fuel at all and it was quite an important lesson for me.  The last few miles were torture and I felt bad for Meagan who could have flown on ahead.  I finished with a time of 1:52:02- 8:33 pace (which also bothered me because I started my watch exactly when the gun went off and according to it I was about 45 seconds faster).  The way they kept time for the early start was super casual, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was off, but it really didn't matter that much to me because either time wasn't was I was hoping for.  I am glad I did the race though because it gave me a wake up call on several things I need to improve upon before my marathon.  Joy and Brandi ran 2:03:17.

After the race was over we went back to the hotel to shower and then hit the road.  I met Jake and the kids outside of La Center so we could head up to Maple Valley to watch the Super Bowl with the Russell Family.