It wasn’t chilly this morning in Mississippi.  Nope.  It was cold.  At gun time, it was 30F with 15 mph north wind.  Brrr!!!  It wouldn’t have been so cold except for the wind.  But it was what it was.

The first mile was one big one mile long hill.  Now, I had done a little bit of homework and new what kind of pace I was going to have to maintain to get a 6 min PR.  That was my goal.  I wanted to run this Half Marathon in 2:30.

The first mile took me 12 minutes.  Well, that wasn’t going to work!  I needed to maintain close to 11:10-11:15 to get my 2:30 finishing time.  Time to get to work!

I picked up the pace.

I passed people!  This was something new to me.  I hardly ever pass people!  Cool Beans!

*side note:  About a year ago, when I had that stress injury, I had run with a few people from my town.  They had never run with me before~everybody except for the person I had carpooled with today.  We had run together many times.  I was not running well that day.  That was due to the, as of yet undiagnosed, stress injury.  One of the ladies I had run with that day, took off like crazy this morning.  She had given me the look of, “Oh, you.  I don’t have to worry about you because you aren’t a very good/fast runner.”  I passed her at mile 4.  The look on her face!  She crossed the finish line 15 minutes after me.  Is it wrong for me to feel good about that?  Sorry, if it is.*

The remainder of the race, I averaged about a 10:20 pace.  I had one 11 minute mile.  I kinda went to La-La land and wasn’t focusing on the race.  Paid for it, too with my time.  Got back on track after that.

There was a lot of wind issues today.  Close to half of the race, we were running directly into the wind.  Sometimes, a gust would push me back a little.  I found two ladies who were running close to the pace I wanted to run.  I admit to drifting off of them.  Eventually, a lady with loud music playing caught up with us and stayed with us.  Her music was the wrong tempo for me to be able to maintain my pace.  It was slowing me down.  A Lot!  I had to pick it up and leave that group.  They were nice ladies and I had enjoyed their company.

The course itself was mostly country roads.  The first mile, like I said, was one long hill.  The next 5 miles were rolling hills.  Two pretty flat hills.  After that, we turned onto a converted rail line that they had made into a bike/running trail.  It was a nice trail.  The trees on either side kept the wind at bay.  The remainder of the race was on that trail.

The lady I carpooled with, her name is Bonnie.  She is an amazing runner!  Someday, I will blog about her but not today.  She places at every race she runs.  She came in at 2:39 today.  I had seen her way ahead of me on that hill on the first mile.  I had not seen her when I passed her.

After I had completed the race today, I was looking all over the place for that woman!  We had agreed not to stay for awards.  We both had busy days ahead.  I couldn’t find her for anything.  So, I did what I do best.  I talked to people.  As I was chatting, there she came across the finish line!  No wonder I couldn’t find here!

We met up and she immediately asked my time.  I told her and asked if she was ready to go.

“Girl!  With a time like that?  You placed!!!  We’re staying for awards!”  She said.

“Bonnie.  Don’t be silly.  I didn’t place.  I never place.  Let’s just go.”

Just then, they announced they were doing awards in 3 minutes.  I couldn’t get her to leave.  Stubborn lady.  They started awards oldest to youngest.  Bonnie is in the 60-69.  She paced 3rd!  I wasn’t surprised.  Like I said, she always places.  She was so excited!  I was happy for her!

She got her award and I congratulated her and said, “Okay, let’s go.”

She firmly said that we were staying.  I’m in the 50-59 age division and it would just be a few minutes for them to announce it.

*sigh*

They did the men’s 50-59.  Then the women’s.  I thought that if I had ANY chance at all, it would be third.  Nope.  It wasn’t me.  I was ready to leave.  Then, I head, “Women’s 50-59, 2nd place, Melinda Howard.”  I about died!

Bonnie, of course, went nuts!!!

Nice and loud she says, “I told you girl!!! Now get up there and get your award!”

In a complete state of shock, I went up and got my award and I would venture to guess I was grinning like a complete idiot.

We finally walked back to the car.  I was holding myself together and Bonnie was talking a mile a minute.  We got in the car, shut the doors and I screamed, “I placed!!!  I can’t believe it!!!”

She just laughed at me.

I called MFH (My Favorite Husband) from the car and told him.  He was really happy for me.  The funny thing is, the rest of the day he keeps saying to me. “2:19, huh?  Wow!  I don’t think I’ve ever run a Half that fast!”

I think he’s a keeper!   🙂