Race Recap: A soggy (but still awesome!) St. Jude 1/2

Saturday I ran my 3rd half marathon.  It was special because it was the first half that Mr. C and I have run together. I think he's so sick of me harping on running that he's decided to join me.  Unfortunately, bad weather was on the horizon.  But what's a girl to do? Needless to say I had no aspirations of a PR but guess what? I  got one! My best time yet, a 1:50:52 at an 8:28 pace. Not fast to some, but fast for me. There are days when I'm tired of training and I think, why am I doing this? But then I get a fast time, and I want to make it even better.

So y'all, when I say rain, I mean, like, cold.soaking.rain. Pouring rain. I couldn't have been more soaked if I had jumped into a pool before the start and I have some (awful!) race pics to prove it. I was actually fine until the finish. Once I stopped, I was freezing and realized how soaked and disgusting I was.

The gun was at 7 and we were in the 2nd corral so we started right on time. Christian had some friends in the race and though we started together, he left me after a quarter of a mile. We didn't plan to run together so that wasn't a complete surprise, but I sort of thought we'd hang for a while. Not! But I'm pretty used to running alone so I settled into my rhythm and figured I'd see him at the finish.

I passed him at mile 6. :)

How funny is that guy behind me?

He passed me at mile 8.  :(

Then I caught him again at mile 11ish. :) We were definitely (silently) competing.

The finish line kind of snuck up on me. I sprinted the last tenth of a mile and was juuuuuust shy of catching him but he beat me by 10 seconds. I let it slip through my fingers. There will definitely be a re-match.

It was a tough race overall. But running it (and doing well) in those conditions made me feel like a rock star. Thank the Lord for those wrap thingies they gave us, I was so cold my lips were blue and I was headed for hypothermia. I am so stubborn that I still wore my cutie pie Lulu peach outfit in spite of the weather.  Overall, it was a good choice temperature wise since I hate to be hot (although white shorts in pouring rain was a questionable decision).

I'll never forget this race. We had a lot of good friends/colleagues in it and it was a great accomplishment for all (one friend finished in 1:37!).  I hate to get mushy, but running continues to enrich my life in ways I wouldn't have imagined.