New Bedford Half Race Report

Ok so after loafing around the house for the rest of the day, I am feeling very proud of my time from yesterday! The best way to describe this race for me was that I was in the zone...big time! My pace stayed consistently for 12 miles from 8:22-8:36 min miles. Mile 12 was basically a hill the ENTIRE mile so that was a little slower! Of course the competitor in me was thinking whether or not I could have broken 1:50 if it was not there! Either way I digress....here is how the day shook out!

I woke up with plenty of time to get myself moving but somehow felt like I had no idea what to do! It was weird....didn't know what to eat for breakfast and actually forgot breakfast until we were almost ready to leave! The hubs was on the fence about going since it was going to be chilly and hard to wrangle a 2 year-old for 2 hours alone. He decided to go and Em got all excited about going to Mommy's "big race"!! She kept saying she was on "team blue", Mommy was on "team pink", and Daddy was on "team green". She was so excited and a lot of the way there she would start cheering....so cute!!!

We got there in plenty of time for a potty stop and number pick-up. Once I was all set we headed outside to wait. Em was running all over and even stretching with me. She was so excited!!!

"Team Pink"!! Had to sport my lucky Supermom Bondi Band!

When it got close we headed up to the starting line.....I kissed them goodbye....and headed into the corral to start. I would say this was one of the most comfortable starting lines I have been in in a while.....not a lot of crowding and pushing around. I hate being squished at the start! The gun went off and we were off!!! I kept repeating to myself "Just run your race....run your race...." to keep me from getting swept up in the rush. It worked...I settled into an 8:30 pace and as I said earlier didn't deviate too much from that! One strategy that I used was finding people along the way to help me keep a pace....thanks to the girls running in purple for miles 1-3, the girl in the camo for miles 4-7, the really tall man for blocking the wind around mile 8.....it worked great and gave me just what I needed. I FELT GREAT!!! I kept waiting for the wall to come but it didn't. I was jamming out to my music and had a great time! I sprinted to the finish and was surprised to see how much I had left in my legs! I could have done without the GIANT hill at mile 12 but overall it was a great race! It was even better to find my family at the finish!

Some observations from today......This is a huge race for people running the Boston marathon...I saw lots and lots of charity runners getting ready for Boston and the hills are good practice.....there are parts of New Bedford I would not want to run alone if you know what I mean.....it was very well organized.....I like running in the middle of the street (random).....music gets me going (I know I owe you all a playlist!).....knee high socks with crazy patterns and bright colors have flooded running (lots of bright colors everywhere!)....shirts were nice since they had men's and women's sizes

I will leave you with my loot.....Em insisted on wearing my medal all the way home!

Of course I had to add it to the desk this morning!!!

This was my 2nd race for Run for the Bling and also part of the Cupcake Marathon (post to follow). Up next on the schedule......5k for my old Nursery School with Em....we'll be Team Blue!