marathon shmarathon

This weekend was the summer solstice - longest day of the year. Boy its bright out all the time. I've actually had to pull out one of those dweebie eye covers they give you for free on airplanes, because I keep waking up at 6 or 7 am (TOTALLY not necessary given my work schedule, even less necessary on weekends).

I decided a while back that this weekend would be a good time to drive up to Anchorage to visit a friend of mine. Then last week, I decided that this weekend would also be a good time to run a half marathon. My good friend Cat was already registered for the Mayor's Midnight Sun Run...I figured, "hell, I'm going to be in ANC anyways, why not." Now, I've been running pretty regularly, but I usually run 6 miles. A half marathon is 13.1 miles. And I've never actually been in a race before, not even a 5K.

I decided that solistice would be a pretty good time to take care of all those firsts.

And it was AWESOME. There were almost 1000 women ALONE running the half - not to mention the men, the marathon runners, the 5 mile runners.

It was SO FUN. And totally doable. It was really nice to have a running partner, because we just settled into a steady pace and chatted the whole way, which really helped the miles go by and helped me not worry about the twinges in my muscles or how far we still had to go.

And I'm quite happy with my time. I came in 29/83 in my age group in 2:15:11, with Cat right behind me. I'm not even that sore. I would DEFINTELY do it again. Plus you get a medal and a t-shirt that says "official finisher." Sweet.