half marathon!

Half marathon done :) Today's race was, hard. I ran the best I could today. I was really hoping to break sub 2, as from training runs, I thought I had it.. I finished 17 mins over my goal time 2 hours.. big bummer. BUT I did pr!
 The race was super hilly. I guess I can't read elevation charts, when I showed my husband early this evening, he busted out laughing.. I didn't think a 250 ft elevation change (x4 plus a few more elevation changes) was that big of deal.. my knees tell me otherwise. I am proud of myself considering I just started running consistently after a nearly 2 year hiatus. I ran the first 7miles in about 1hr 5, and thought I could hold onto that, but I started slowing down, and no matter how hard I pushed I couldn't seem to pick up the speed. The hills kicked my butt! My midrace fuel didn't really work, I've used the powerbar gel gummies on traning, and I was just too tired to chew those things, so I only ate about half the package. I think I need to just choke down gels from now on, even if they make me gag.

passed out on the floor

 After the race we walked back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit, well everyone else did, I thought I was going to die from stomach cramps. Thankfully some water and bagel got rid of them. My son passed out on the floor, guess its really tiring watching mommy race, although I'm sure my husband worked harder at being a spectator  as he had to entertain 2 really tired kids..After a power nap, we headed to big river grille for lunch. I ate the very yummy goat cheese and hummus salad, yum.. And we headed to Coolidge park for the carousel and to let the little ones burn off some energy. We wanted to do more, but we all were so tired, we ended our day in Chattanooga with ice cream and headed home.
 I'm not sure if I will run this race again. Its small, and I thought pretty well organized. It was however soo hilly.. and to me a few hills are ok, but this has a lot of elevation changes, and its just not fun. Maybe if I had been running longer than 2 months and actually trained for hills, it wouldn't have been so bad.. I'm actually going to stick to shorter distance races for a little while. I really want to build a strong base speed as well as a strong base mileage, that I just don't have now, then move back up to longer distance races. I just am not trained enough, nor have been in past. The long distance races are not as fun not being able to run them how I want.. I'm 0-60 kind of person, but considering I'm wanting such speed and have no base.. its not going to happen unless I revamp my training technique.
 It was a fun times.. looking forward to another race. Have another medal to hang! Now to bed..