(For Real This Time) I Deserve a Medal!

...oh wait! Look at me! I GOT one!

I got a medal for running the Santa Barbara International Half Marathon this last Saturday, November 6! This was my first race of this duration. I'm just pointing out that a 1/2 marathon is 13.1 miles. Ya! That's right! That was me! Please! Hold your applause.

Many of my friends have done this race in years past and I started thinking how great it would be to run by the ocean, in the cool sea air. I was right. It was a beautiful setting and just the right temperature. But as it turns out my friend Erin and I were the only ones that made it to the race this year. (And our valiant and very supportive husbands were there to cheer us on) Erin and I discovered that we are good running partners. We have about the same pace and don't have to chitchat to feel the camaraderie. She was a couple hundred yards a head of me most of the time, but I'll try not to feel too bad since she is 10 years younger than me. Ha! We came in together though and I can only attribute that to her need to puke (she didn't, but it slowed her down just enough for me to catch up).

There were many times I just wanted to stop. But when I analyzed the reasons I couldn't think of a good one. My legs felt fine, my breathing was good, nothing hurt. I just had to refocus and get my head in the game. I just kept going. That's how life is you know.

(Tiffiny is one of our friends that had to back out of the race at the very last second due to a back injury. This "running for..." thing is a bit of an inside joke. And there's really no room here to write about it and you probably don't want to know anyway... but if you do, go here)

Here are my stats:

~ Distance: 13.1 miles

~Time: 2 hours 21 minutes and 56 seconds

~I placed 874th out of 1552 women

~I placed 126 out of 225 in my division (ages 40-44) -- I'll let you guess which end of the spectrum I'm on

~I placed 1478 out of 2297 total runners

(if you do the math, I was about the middle of the pack in all of these categories)

My pace was about 10:50 per mile. I'm not disappointed with this, but I know I should have/could have done better. There was a massive, half mile hill at mile 11 that I walked most of. That's ok though, that's how life is you know, sometimes hills come when you are tired. It might throw you off a little bit, it might slow you down, but the point is, I kept going, I finished, I felt good and I still feel good! Now that's something to be proud of. Also I now know just how much work I have to do before I run that full marathon in May. YIKES!

Brad says making these little mini-movies is his form of scrapbooking. He really is quite talented. Here is what he put together for me. He did a great job (read didn't make me look to stupid) and even used the song I requested. I love it, and it just happened to be playing while he was filming me. Good karma I call it. (Even though the song is really called Underdog.)

A few more shots of the trip...

Goofy to the bitter end

Lunch and Shopping in Downtown Santa Barbara

And a trip down to that area would not be complete with out a visit to Jocko's, the best Steak House around. Total hole in the wall, but totally YUMMY grub.

We also had ice-cream at Pismo Beach, but we didn't get a picture. Nor did we get a picture of the full double rainbow we saw there. (What does this mean?)