Having completed my first and second half marathons, I was ready to go for a 3rd to get an official sub-2 hour time!

Allison and I signed up for the Seattle Ghost Half about three weeks before the event. She begged the organizer to let us in, and he relented! Allison can be quite persuasive.

The run was held on the Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend. The weather had been absolutely abysmal for weeks in Seattle and the weekend forecast was looking to be more of the same (clouds, fog, wind, rain, cold, sleet, misery). But somehow, despite the odds, we lucked out and had no rain from when we got out of the car to when we crossed that finish line (then the skies opened right back up and people got SOAKED).

Smiling before the race!  So glad it’s not raining!

The course took us through around Seward park, along Lake Washington to Leschi, and back. The course also had full marathon (two loops) and ultra marathon (four loops) options. Those ultra runners are crazy!

Unlike my previous two races, this run was small and didn’t have a timing chip! I made sure to be one of the first people across the start line to get an accurate time recorded. This was good and bad – good because my offial time was only about :10 seconds off of what I recorded, but bad because it meant that I spent the first half of the race getting passed. It can be difficult mentally when people pass you.

Again I started off slow, but about mile-3 I realized I was going TOO slow and I was actually in quite a bit of pain. I picked up the pace and suddenly I felt loads better! It was amazing to go from feeling like I might not even finish to being confident I would DOMINATE this thing! It also helped that I started passing all of the people who had passed me earlier.

Chris (Allison’s Husband) was on hand and took some action photos.  Love it!

Allison and her running buddy in the last 4 miles

Blurry action shot about a mile from the finish!

I had set up a playlist that was exactly 1:59 and when my last song, Numa Numa, came on, I gunned it and ran as fast as I could towards the finish. Time?: 1:58:13!!!!  Yes under two hours! Man I was stoked! Allison did even better with a time of 1:52:36! Way to go Alli!

To top it all off, out of 50 women, Allison was 10th, and I was 18th! It’s so fun to do these small races – it makes you feel like a rock star to come in the Top-20!

Top 20 Finishers – #Winning

Victory Lift!

I loved this half marathon and definitely plan to do it again in 2012 if I am able! I am also considering a full marathon, but I have a while to decide if I want to commit to that. For now I am signed up for the San Diego Safari Park Half Marathon, which goes through the San Diego Zoo! I’m very excited! I guess I better start shopping for  leopard print running shorts!

Love the Ghost Medal!  In the background you can see my other two medals as well.