The hardest half I've ever ran

I ended up deciding to do the Columbia Gorge Half Marathon on the 23rd and I'm glad that I did. But as I type this two days later, I feel as if my legs might never heal...

I arrived in Hood River, OR the night prior to the race to a beautiful vacation rental home and a group of welcoming friends. I didn't know the people I was staying with super well except Sarah M, but quickly felt comfortable around everyone. We had a yummy pasta dinner, one glass of wine and ended the night watching Over the Top which if you've never seen, you need to. Let's just say the song "Meet me half way" was a theme of our weekend.

Race morning, we all rose, ate and made it to the start line with lots of time to spare. They ended up pushing out the start time 20 minutes because people were late to the shuttle, so I'm happy we arrived early although we waited around for a long time.

Start time came and a few nerves started flowing. I didn't have a time goal for this race, I just wanted to do it, so I'm not sure why I got nervous. I didn't care if I had to walk parts, I just wanted to do it and finish. Plus, it was my birthday and I couldn't NOT do it on my 27th birthday! So the gun went off and I immediately started out slow - a 10:00/mile pace, which I was fine with. I held this pace for the rest of the race.

I had to stop and pee at the first aid station, which was the first time I've ever had to stop and use the bathroom during the race. At this point, I really didn't care about my time, so I went with how I felt for the next 10 miles.

The course was never flat. It climbed from mile 1-3, then a steady downhill from 3-5 where the turnaround was. So we climbed again from 5-7.5ish then downhill the rest of the way. I ran all the downhills, but had to run/walk the uphills. Miles 5-7.5 were beastly and HARD.

I finished at 2:11, which is 9 minutes slower than my current PR, but I'm totally fine with that. I'd love to do this race next year because although the course is hard, it is beautiful and I want to face those hills again! I was the last of my friends to finish, which was kind of okay because I had lots of fans at the finish line! :) Sarah M took the "W" for the women's race with an impressive 1:21:48! Speedster!

It took me a good 4 days for my legs to feel normal again. This whole past week has been all about resting and recouping from Las Vegas and the race. Now that I'm feeling back to my normal self, I'm ready for a new goal... stay tuned!