Woman's Half Marathon Recap!

Be sure to read all about the Woman's Half Race Expo! You don't want to miss the picture of me in some crazy Run Pink sunglasses! ;-)

After a not so good night of rest it was time to get ready for this race that I was so excited about! One of my favorite parts of a race is the outfit!!! So of course I took my race gear photo the night before!

And here's my race morning picture!

I ate a Luna Bar in the hotel room and took a banana with me to the start line. I ate the banana about 15 minutes before the start. Before heading to the finish line I met all the Run Pink Ambassadors for a picture! It was awesome to meet these fabulous ladies that I had been working with the past few months!

I was also excited to visit with Heather from Running With Sass! Usually I just see her on the course and can only say a quick hey as she runs past me! But this race I got to hang with her before and after the race!

Yes I will just say that I never realized how short I really am until meeting some of my favorite bloggers! I look like a munchkin! :-/

After taking a few pics we headed to the start line. And everything as promised was PINK! Even the port a potties!

We took one more picture and then it was time to start!

At start time the temperature was in the high 60's, it was overcast, and very humid. Story of my life on race day it seems! I wasn't too worried about this because my body is definitely used to running in these weather conditions.

They had music blaring, the race announcer was getting us all pumped up, and you could just feel the excitement in the air! I was excited but also nervous. I was a little worried about how my knee was going to do. And I was a little worried about my endurance since I hadn't run in two weeks. But I was determined to finish! And I was ok with walking when I needed to. This was all about having fun! Finally we heard the gun sound and we were off! I love that sea of pink!

And look how serious we are at the start here! I think I was really focused on my knee!

Miles 1-3 went by pretty fast. I tried to keep my pace around 11:30-12 minute miles. My knee felt pretty good except for a little bit of tightness. We were running along the river at this point and we also passed by the water treatment plant. I guess the wind was blowing the wrong way because the smell was awful. At mile 3 we were running on the LSU campus and by Tiger Stadium. Now y'all know I love my Auburn Tigers but I couldn't help taking a picture of Tiger Stadium. Running by any football stadium is pretty cool!

Right after we passed the stadium there was the turn off for the 10K. My knee was doing ok so I kept running straight on the half course. This is where the scenery was awesome! We were running on campus by the lakes and down fraternity row. This campus was gorgeous! And perfect for running!

Around mile 6 I started taking some walk breaks. The knee was doing great other than just feeling tight. But none of the bruising feeling. When I walked the tightness would go away. So that was my strategy for the rest of the race. I ran until the knee started feeling tight and then I would walk to loosen it up. I think I also needed the walk breaks because I had lost some of my endurance from resting the past two weeks. But hey...I was still completing a half marathon! And I was running again with no knee pain! I was proud!

After running around the lakes we headed back downtown. Miles 11 and 12 were around the State Capitol and in Arsenal Park (which if you are a Twilight fan then you know that parts of Breaking Dawn were filmed here!!!).

I was so happy to see this sign!!!

The last mile wasn't too bad. Most of the time the last mile seems to take forever. But before I knew it I took a turn and could see the finish line straight ahead!!!

And of course I did my normal hands in the air pose while crossing the finish line! (I know I'm a dork)

My official finish time was 2:48:11. One of my slowest races but that's ok since I've been recovering from a knee injury. I'm just happy I was able to run and finish!

Larisa met me at the end of the finish chute! It was awesome seeing a friendly face! I also got to see one of my Sole2Soul Sisters Kay and her dog Cody. Yes he ran the entire half marathon with her! You may remember reading about Kay and Cody in my It's About the Shirt Half Marathon recap!

We headed to the VIP area...one of the perks to being a Run Pink Ambassador. They had a spread of cookies, Jimmy John's sandwiches, rice and seafood etouffee, bananas, oranges, water, coke, and Gatorade. Too bad it takes me a few hours after running to get hungry. We took a few pics with our medals.

And then Larisa and I broke it down with some dancing for our "ladies dancing" prompt for #holidayaday! So much fun! And yeah...I'm so NOT a dancer lol!

Love all the finisher pics we took!

Check out my bling! The medal has a charm that you can remove and put on a bracelet or necklace. 

This race was awesome! The course was beautiful, everything was well organized, the race swag was awesome, there were signs clearing showing turns on the course and mile markers, the medal was huge and gorgeous, and the amount of police controlling traffic was the most I have ever seen at a race. I will DEFINITELY run this race again and highly recommend it to anyone! I love that there is a 5K, 10K, and half marathon to choose from. And all the PINK...that's just icing on the cake!!!

One of my favorite parts...FREE digital photography! Yes I LOVED having all these pictures from the course and crossing the finish line! And this is a perk they said they would have every year for this race! Yay!!!

I haven't forgotten about the winner of the Re:Vive Energy Fizz! Thanks to all who entered! The winner is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations!!! Please send me your mailing address to mindy@roadrunnergirl.com.

QOTD: Would you rather run a smaller race or a race with thousands of people?