On July 17 I ran a half marathon! I didn’t have to travel for it either – it took place in my own back yard! The See Jane Run half ran right around Lake Union – see the course here!

Here is my harem before the run (Carrie on the left, ran the 5k, me, Allison, who was injured and had to give her spot up to Sarah, who I ran the whole race with, and Erica, a fierce competitor!):

I stole most of these pictures from Brightroom.  You can view all of my pictures here.

Due to some injuries and life getting in the way, I hadn’t run more than 8ish miles before this 13.1 mile race. I was a bit apprehensive as you might imagine, but I was happy to be going! I also had a great running buddy in my friend Sarah! 

Here are Sarah and I at the midway point (yes, she runs in Luna Sandals, becuase she is awesome. I also have my own version of the minamist shoes: the Merrill Glove). Can you tell I spotted the camera???

We paced ourselves really well. The first 7ish miles we went at a 10 minute pace, then began what’s called ‘negative splits’ where we sped up for the remainder of our run. The following 5ish miles were a 9:15-45 pace (accounting for water breaks), then I sprinted for the last mile at about 7:15. Here I am crossing the finish!

Final finish time: 2:05:31!!!  Not too shabby for my first race. I felt pretty strong and got cheeky for the cameras.

Of course, we had to do a celebration lift of the injuried parties:

And of course some celebratory bubbly! Gotta love races that end with champagne and chocolate (not that I felt much like having either….I’m actually drinking energy drink from that glass). 

Overall experience?  I LOVED it and can’t wait to do another. Looks like I’m signing up for the Leavenworth Half on October 15. See you there?