Race report!

First half marathon -- done!  The weather was a little chilly but sunny.  It was good running weather.  I waded into the half marathoners:

 

There were lots of people...but not too many.  Starting with a smaller race like this was nice.  Everyone spaced out quickly.  My favorite moment of the first couple miles?  

[Undergrad looks at me doing my 4 minutes running 1 mine walking Galloway routine] and says, "Oh that girl is doing the run-walk thing.  That is so good, I remember when I was using that to start off."  

When did I hear this?  When I was passing them...and I never saw them again.  The run-walk thing worked great!  I made it up all the hills on the course, passing folks who stopped to walk.  I felt really strong the whole time.  And I concentrated on not getting caught up in passing people.  I just focused on keeping myself at a good strong steady pace.  

Woody, Mary, Alice and Maddy met me at mile 10 to cheer and ask me piercing appetizing questions like "Want some lasagna?"  Here I am doing my extra special Chariots of Fire running pose for Mary and Maddy:

Here's some video of me and my elegant gazelle strides:

 I finished with a time of 2:17!  That's a 10:27 mile.  I'm pretty happy with that considering the course was hilly and the longest run I'd done up till today was 11.5 miles.  I felt good through the whole race and performed evenly the whole time!  Woody and Mary finished the 5k in under an hour, which we were all happy with, Maddy and Alice included!

Afterwards we posed for some finishing medal shots and some serious stretching:

Woody & Rachel

Rachel collapsing in exhaustion on her sister Mary

Mary helping Rachel stretch

So all in all, I'd do it again!  And I will...now I just need to find another race...