Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes

**Edit: After checking the race results this morning, I actually came in at 2:01:45! One minute faster than I thought!

So, I did it! I ran my first Half-Marathon! It was amazing and it was such an incredible feeling! I've been looking forward to this for so long and I finally did it! Here's my first attempt at a race report!

5:00am - Alarm goes off, I get dressed and make myself one of the recipes from Real Girls Eat: Porridge with Apples, Pears and Crispy Walnuts - it wasn't very good, so I tossed it and went with regular old Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal!

6:00am - Lauren picked me up and we made our way out to the race. About halfway there, I started getting really nervous, like queasy, nauseous type nervous.

6:30am - Arrived at Newton South High School, picked up our bibs, stretched, used the bathrooms, lined up and were ready to go!

7:45am - After the Race Director told us the story of Katie Lynch (read it here), and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, we were off!

Miles 1-2: Nice and easy, I was feeling pretty good and was running at about an 8:30 pace. The hills started right around Mile 2. The incline was pretty easy on the first hill and the downhill was surprisingly easy as well. I didn't like how much speed I was picking up on the downhill because it was pretty steep, but I was feeling good.



Miles 3-5: I lost Lauren somewhere between Miles 3-5. I was starting to feel tired so I popped a GU Chomp (after asking one of the race volunteers to open the packet for me!) Mile 4 was the start of another hill which peaked about Mile 5 and was another steep incline down. I started getting tired and my feet started to go a little numb but I was determined to make it to Heartbreak without stopping.

Miles 6-8: Heartbreak Hill. Just at the 10k mark, I had to stop and walk. My legs were cramping up and I felt like I had just spent too much of my energy and started worrying I wouldn't be able to finish. I popped 3 GU Chomps, drank some water and then hit it heard to climb Heartbreak. Just after Heartbreak, we hit a hill that was even worse. Steep climb up on uneven pavement and then a steep drop down.

Miles 9-11: My Power songs started to kick in and I felt awesome. These were a nice easy two miles and I was making great time! My Nike+ told me I was running 7:57 at one point! I've definitely never run that fast and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish if I kept it up, but my songs definitely pushed me through.

Mile 12: "Stronger" by Britney Spears came on just as we came up on the last hill. This one was, as the race coordinators referred to it, a doozie! I absolutely HAD to walk some of it, but started pushing through just as the top of the hill. And right when "Stronger" ended, "Slide" by the Goo Goo Dolls, my all-time favorite song ever came on and I literally yelled out and one of the volunteers was like, YES! YOU CAN DO THIS and I picked it up and maintained an 8:01 pace straight through to about the 12.8 mark when I just started sprinting.

Mile 13: I'm sprinting to the finish and feeling GREAT when out of the crowd jumps my mom! She totally surprised me and I started tearing up and came in strong at 2:01:45..3 minutes and 15 seconds below my goal time!

It was an unbelievable first race! And my mom?! She woke up at 2am and drove from New Jersey to Boston so that she could be at the finish line. Do I have the best mom ever or what???

And Lauren? She was amazing and calming me down and giving me tips and helping me not to totally freak out and run away before the race even started!

The race volunteers were incredible! Every time they said, 'You look great' or 'Awesome job,' I was like yes!

And I could not have gotten through the race without my awesome playlist!

So to avoid this post being any longer, here are some pictures and my playlist!



Half-Marathon Playlist

• Any Way You Want It - Journey
• Jesse's Girl - Rick Springfield
• I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas*
• Fire Burning - Sean Kingston
• Tik Tok - Ke$ha
• Shake It - Metro Station*
• Viva La Vida - Coldplay
• So What - Pink
• Shipping up to Boston - Dropkick Murphys**
• Mr. Brightside - The Killers
• Autobiography - Ashlee Simpson*
• Move Along - All American Rejects*
• Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
• Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson*
• Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
• Your Love - The Outfield
• Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
• Bad Romance - Lady Gaga*
• Good Girls Go Bad - Cobra Starship
• We Weren't Born to Follow - Bon Jovi*
• Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind**
• Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms**
• Candyman - Christina Aguilera
• Halfway Gone - Lifehouse
• Let's Get it Started - Black Eyed Peas***
• Eye of the Tiger - Survivor***
• Don't Stop Believin' - Journey**
• Run Around - Blues Traveler
• Check Yes Juliet - We the Kings
• Stronger - Britney Spears****
• Slide - Goo Goo Dolls*****
• Gives You Hell - All American Rejects
• Hey Soul Sister - Train