The Smith Family: I DID IT!

On November 18th - 4 days after my 34th birthday I ran my first half marathon! That would be a total of 13.1 miles - NON STOP! We drove down to San Jose on Friday night, hung out with family and on Saturday I drove down to Monterey to pick up Jennifer and then head down to pick up our race packets. I'm not going to lie, I was full of excitement. Just to pick up my first half marathon race packet was super exciting . . . then we headed over to the race expo to get our performance shirts. I know that "they" say not to wear your race shirt on race day (apparently it's bad luck) but I couldn't help it. I was SO proud that of course I wore it!

Jennifer and I had a great night. We went shopping and then had a yummy carb loaded meal at California Pizza Kitchen. Rain was in the forecast and we were up before the crack of dawn gearing up for the run. After grabbing all my race gear and eating a bagel we were on the road headed straight for the starting line! We got to our starting corral in no time and we watched the sunrise over the beautiful Monterey Bay - nice clear skies. When the gun shot we still had about 20 min. before our corral was able to start.

I had been training for this race for quite awhile, and while Jennifer had been training between her work, kids and life she wasn't to where I was in my training. However, she had a few of her friends running the race as well so after the first mile I ended up breaking away and ran the remaining 12 miles alone. It was such an amazing expierence, the adrenline, the "high" . . . it was amazing. Not to mention the views. Who can say they ran all the way down Monterey Bay . . Cannery Row, Pacific Grove? Not many people. As I crossed the finish line I was full of pride. I got my race metal and then waited . . . and waited for Jennifer. I was able to see another friend who finished ahead of me. After checking my "official" time I finished in 2:21 and placed 95th for my age bracket! I was SO proud I finished in the top 100 for my age bracket!! I finished 2,047th overall . . . keep in mind almost 6,000 people ran! For my first race I'd say that was good!

Now that I have completed my first half, I've caught the bug. I've already signed up for my next race - in March I'll be running the Shamrockin Half in Sacramento and my goal is to run a FULL marathon (26.2 miles) in December! I'm nuts. But heck, you only live once and one day I will not be able to do this . . . . sieze the moment!!