Yes this half marathon was the first weekend in November and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. I really need to do better!!
Friday
Nikki and I took to the car to head to Columbus for the night as Deb was flying into the Columbus airport from Chicago and we were her ride to the Columbus hotel as we decided to stay near the airport Friday night and then head to West Virginia on Saturday morning. As Deb's flight wasn't due in until after 10:00 PM Nikki and I met up with our friend, Dave, at California Pizza Kitchen for some dinner and ice cream. We did a little "window" shopping at the mall that we ate at and then headed to our hotel to check in and wait for Deb's arrival. After we grabbed Deb from the airport we spent some time catching up and then it was time to grab some shut eye.
Saturday
We grabbed a quick continental breakfast at our hotel in Columbus and then got everything packed up and got on the road to West Virginia. The drive was very pleasant and quite uneventful. We stopped for a late lunch and then went straight to the race expo to grab our things for race day. It was a very small expo but we didn't mind as we weren't really looking for anything in particular for race day. Nikki did buy a jacket as the weather forecast had changed.
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| Nikki, Deb and I at the expo |
Once we had finished at the expo we headed to check into our hotel which was about 30 minutes away from the race start. We were able to secure a late check out and just relax for awhile before we headed out for some dinner at The Wine Valley. After finishing dinner, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night relatively early.
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| The Wine Valley |
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| Our wine samplings |
Sunday
We were up bright and early for our 30 minute drive to the race start. It was quite chilly but we knew it was supposed to warm up relatively quickly so we were quite happy about that. While waiting for the race to start we were very cold though so we were wishing the race would have started sooner rather than later.
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| Trying to stay warm at the start line |
The course was very nice and relatively flat. I especially enjoyed running past the water. It was a very nice view. Considering I was coming off my slowest marathon ever, my only goal for this race was to try and run an even pace for all 13 miles. I am happy to say that I came pretty close to achieving that goal.
Miles 1-6: 9:43, 9:33, 9:33, 9:28, 9:37, 9:23
Miles 7-13.24: 9:26, 9:23, 9:32, 9:32, 9:16, 9:44, 9:53 and 2:04(8:46 pace) for the final .24
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| The finish line |
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| Nikki's finish |
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| Nikki waiting for Deb to finish |
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| Deb's finish |
After all three of us crossed the finish line we headed back to our hotel to clean up and get ready to head back home. We stopped and had lunch at Fat Patty's before getting back on the road to drop Deb off in Columbus for her return flight home.
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| Nothing like a burger and a beer after a half marathon |
We returned Deb to the airport much earlier than her scheduled flight so she tried to get her flight changed to arrive home early but that didn't work out for her. Instead, she ended up getting a nice chair massage while she waited for her flight. Nikki and I headed back to Cleveland and declared it a successful weekend.
Complete a half in all 50 states status: 18 states and D.C. completed
Completed states: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!!
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