Baystate Half Marathon ...

Baystate Half Marathon

.. its been a few days, but here is my update on Baystate Marathon this weekend .. I did only run the half though! As you know from my last post, I was not sure what the restult of the race was going to be, I hadn't run long since the marathon, I was very nervous. 

The night before the half, my sisters and I went out to dinner.. and I am not like my most people the night before races. Most have a plate full of pasta and carb load. However I do have carbs, perhaps a side of pasta, or potatoes, but its never my main dish ... my pre race dinner is Haddock .. different than others.. but whatever works... and I won't change. However we went to Bertucci's and they didn't have Haddock, but they had Cod Al Forno.. so I ordered that.. delicious I might add... and I ate enough rolls.. for my carb loading.. ha! In the morning I always have the usual ... oatmeal, banana, and peanut butter at least 4 hours before the race, then a cliff bar about an hour and a half before.


Race Morning ... Mom, Dad and I headed down to Lowell High were everything started nice and early.. 

Dad and I, in front of Lowell City Hall

I was still pretty nervous, I did not want to fail miserably in this race .. nerves were going, it was a pretty cool morning but was going to warm up to about 50.. so it was going to be a perfect day for running. Kim met us, and she was so excited first half.. she couldn't wait to start.. I was feeling anxious in the opposite way. 7:55 we lined up in the corrals.. I went for the 8/min pace corrals .. and 8:00am we took off. 


I started going and realized I felt great.. I didn't want to get to ahead of myself, but my pace was around 7:30's and I tried to just keep it around there, for as long as I could.. I didn't want to burn out .. the baystate course is pretty flat, few rolling hills but nothing major ..its a double loop .. so i saw my parent's which was great ..

Around Mile 5

I felt great at this point and knew if I kept my pace .. I had a PR .. previous was 1:47 and Providence in August. I didn't want to keep thinking that the entire race though I just wanted to maintain and keep it going so I didn't drop drastically in pace. Well I kept going for the next 6.5 miles.. felt great pushed myself.. because as I looked at my garmin .. I knew I could get another PR ...

1:44 FINISH .. PR of 3 Minutes!!!

I crossed that finish line and honestly could not believe that I PR'd again.. and by 3 minutes .. the day was perfect.. and now I just wanted to see how Kim did .. and before I knew it she was coming in .. so Happy that she was finishing up .. Kim finished her first half in 1:51, so happy that she finished!! I was so happy for her was an overall perfect day!!!

SO Happy!!!

Kim and I