Half Marathon

Karen and I are in Tennessee this week to visit with our family and to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. I knew with the distractions of family that I would be tempted to slack off on my marathon training. So I was tickled to find the Secret City Half Marathon.

I ran it this morning. 13.1 miles and my unofficial time is 1:55. Today was simply fantastic because my Mom, Dad and Karen all came to root me on.

Here are a ton of pictures!

Sunrise at the start of the course.


It was 55 degrees which is a perfect temperature for running for me. But it felt quite chilly before we started moving.


Waiting to start.


And we are off! My family was cheering and waving at the start line.


The race was a loop that we ran twice. So it was easy for everyone to cheer us on as we ran by at the half-way mark. Seeing Karen, Mom and Dad jumping up and down, waving and shouting encouragement to me was priceless. It was a moment I'll treasure forever.




And here I am nearing the finish line.


They called my name and I threw my hands in the air and whooped it up.


After the race, I was so happy. Here I'm celebrating with my Mom. We were talking about the fact that my first half-mararthon race was held last year around Thankgsiving, and that I ran it in 2:11. I was elated with my new time and shouting out 1:55! with my Mom. I had to hug and kiss everyone. I kissed Karen and my mom...


Here I'm kissing my Dad.


And kissing my medal.




What started out as a long, training run became a personal-best run filled with some awesome moments.