
Half Marathon #6… a new PR by 11 minutes and an improvement over last year’s Iron Girl by 32 minutes! Knocked my own socks off!
This race is a little sentimental because it was my first half marathon last year. My mom and I ran it together as our first half! My goal a year ago was to beat 3 hours. With the three hour pacers ahead of me the entire race, I was concerned about making this goal. As I rounded the last corner, I caught up to the 3 hour pacers and finished in 2:58! I was thrilled! Read more about my last Iron Girl here!
Over the last year I have made lots of progress and was hoping to end the season with a bang! My PR (personal record) before this race was 2:36:31 at Disney – a relatively flat course, but I did stop and take photos along the way! My goal this year was to achieve the sub 2:30 half! I knew that I had to maintain under a 11:30 minute pace and had my goals in sight. I didn’t look down at my watch that often. I just ran!
So pre-race evening we went to church for the Easter egg hunt and church (since we wouldn’t be at church the next morning!), which was followed by a carb loaded dinner at Steak n Shake! I ate a bowl of chili, a Fresco melt, french fries and a Snickers milk shake! It was delicious and I slept like a baby with a full belly!
The next morning, my mom and I set out for Clearwater at 5am and arrived to get a perfect parking spot in plenty of time to walk through the vendors, stretch and use the little girls room (aka the porta potty!). We also took a quick photo with the bridge in the background. The biggest of the two bridges that were before us!
I got to see Nanci (over at This Crazy Life of Mine) before we took off and before I knew it is was time! I started about at the three hour pacers with my mom. I gave myself the goal of walking only at water stops and I kept pretty close to that. After we got away from the excitement of the start and the first bridge I turned my music on. I listened to the playlist that was made for my Team Freedom run back in February when we raised money for human trafficking. It is a great mix of contemporary worship music and motivational snip-its. I knew it would keep me moving!
About mile 3, I had caught up to the 2:30 pacers and I forged ahead – determined to keep them behind me! On the way back, I grabbed a chilled towel – they had kiddie pools with ice and water that they were pulling soaked towels out of. They only had about four handfuls of towels left and I had a feeling that my mom wouldn’t get one by the time she got there. It was a delightful treat that I don’t remember them having last year! I got almost to mile 9 when I passed my mom and I gave her the towel! The sun was out in full glory and a cool towel felt wonderful!
Every year the views amaze me – almost to the point that I forget to take pictures! Here is the only picture of the view that I took this year from the top of the Sand Key bridge. As you can see the sun was out in force!
On the home stretch I was feeling strong not super fatigued, but ready to reach the finish line. As I made the incline up the last bridge, just after mile marker 12, I walked up the bridge and looked down at my watch- Elasped time: 2:18:27! OH MY! I knew that I couldn’t make 2:20, but I was going to well under shoot my goal of a under 2:30.
Final time: 2:25:08 – I still can’t believe it! I can’t imagine that in one year I made that much progress. There were tears. Behind my new Boston Bill sunglass, there were tears – of joy, of pride, of sheer excitement.
After collecting my medal and a bottle of water, I returned to the finish line area to cheer my mom on. I made conversation with a gentleman next to me who I later on learned is a Suncoast Strider who was selected on Monday to run in the Chicago Marathon! Small world! Can’t wait to watch his journey to Chicago!
Here’s the rest of the pictures 🙂




It must feel so good to be able to do that. You are strong. Keep it up. So proud of you and your mom
Way to beat your goal time, congrats!
Congrats again!! I’m so proud of you 🙂 I’m glad that I rubbed off the running bug on you — it is a fun one to catch!!
Great seeing you out there! I love that your mom runs with you – so awesome. Congrats on your PR! Can’t believe we start training for Space Coast in just a couple months. 🙂