Number Two

I finished my second half-marathon yesterday, the Outer Banks Half-Marathon. It was a completely different experience than my Myrtle Beach Half! I stayed with Tracey, her sister, and several of their friends in a beautiful house... it was great to spend the weekend with so many runners (there were seven of us in all who stayed together and ran the race).

The race started at 7:00am, and at 7:00am it was 43 degrees. It didn't take long to warm up, though, and while we were running, the weather was perfect. Much of the race was along the highway, but it was still very scenic (I would much rather run the highway in Nags Head than in Myrtle Beach!). We took a few turns into neighborhoods along the sound, and the views were beautiful.

I was nervous for this race, as I hadn't been feeling great on my training runs. Just kind of lethargic and lazy. However, I really felt great for most of this run. I'm not sure if it was the views or the company (Tracey ran with me most of the way), but I was happy to be on the road, running my heart out. The spectators were awesome, too, all along the way cheering and playing music. I think it was around Mile 6 that there was a crowd of fans, dressed like the Village People, playing and dancing to YMCA... T and I joined in for the short time we were near them!

The toughest part of the race was definitely the last three miles. At Mile 10, the course took us over a big bridge... not something I was looking forward to after running 10 miles! At the bottom of the bridge, there was a turn north, which took us into a headwind for the last 2.5 miles. I struggled those last few miles, but I pushed through it and finished with a smile.

I just got this email in my inbox summarizing my results:

Congratulations Amanda on finishing the 2nd Annual OBX 1/2 Marathon on November 11, 2007. For your records, the weather was Mostly sunny, low 44 high 53 degrees F, NW wind 8 mph 18 mph gusts.

There were 177 finishers in the Female 30 to 34 age group and 2172 finishers in the 1/2 Marathon Division.

Your overall finish place was 1114, your age group finish place was 77 and your gender finish place was 523. Your time was 2:15:06.70 giving you an overall pace of 10:19 per mile.

Your 6.9 Mile split time was 1:10:29.30, Giving you a pace of 10:13 per mile, Overall place 1147, Gender place 547 Your Finish split time was 1:04:37.40, Giving you a pace of 10:25 per mile, Overall place 1114, Gender place 523

You can find full results on www.obxmarathon.org. Please e-mail us at team@kalerunning.com for results inquiries. Pictures from the OBX Marathon weeekend will be available at http://www.TriDuo.com/obxmarathon at the end of the week. TriDuo.com is offering a special on digital images until November 15th at 3pm. We hope to see you again next year.
Team Kale

My Myrtle Beach time was one minute faster, but considering how I felt about my training, that's not bad! I am tired and just a bit sore today, but I feel great. I am hoping to keep up this level of running over the holidays and to run another half in February. Maybe I'll be up for that full marathon in the fall... Tracey???