{"id":2759,"date":"2014-11-27T18:54:17","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T00:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=2759"},"modified":"2014-11-27T18:54:56","modified_gmt":"2014-11-28T00:54:56","slug":"im-so-excited-turkey-trot-half-marathon-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=2759","title":{"rendered":"I’m So Excited!!! (Turkey Trot Half Marathon Recap)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn’t chilly this morning in Mississippi. \u00a0Nope. \u00a0It was cold. \u00a0At gun time, it was 30F with 15 mph north wind. \u00a0Brrr!!! \u00a0It wouldn’t have been so cold except for the wind. \u00a0But it was what it was.<\/p>\n

The first mile was one big one mile long hill. \u00a0Now, 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. \u00a0That was my goal. \u00a0I wanted to run this Half Marathon in 2:30.<\/p>\n

The first mile took me 12 minutes. \u00a0Well, that wasn’t going to work! \u00a0I needed to maintain close to 11:10-11:15 to get my 2:30 finishing time. \u00a0Time to get to work!<\/p>\n

I picked up the pace.<\/p>\n

I passed people! \u00a0This was something new to me. \u00a0I hardly ever pass people! \u00a0Cool Beans!<\/p>\n

*side note: \u00a0About a year ago, when I had that stress injury, I had run with a few people from my town. \u00a0They had never run with me before~everybody except for the person I had carpooled with today. \u00a0We had run together many times. \u00a0I was not running well that day. \u00a0That was due to the, as of yet undiagnosed, stress injury. \u00a0One of the ladies I had run with that day, took off like crazy this morning. \u00a0She had given me the look of, “Oh, you. \u00a0I don’t have to worry about you because you aren’t a very good\/fast runner.” \u00a0I passed her at mile 4. \u00a0The look on her face! \u00a0She crossed the finish line 15 minutes after me. \u00a0Is it wrong for me to feel good about that? \u00a0Sorry, if it is.*<\/p>\n

The remainder of the race, I averaged about a 10:20 pace. \u00a0I had one 11 minute mile. \u00a0I kinda went to La-La land and wasn’t focusing on the race. \u00a0Paid for it, too with my time. \u00a0Got back on track after that.<\/p>\n

There was a lot of wind issues today. \u00a0Close to half of the race, we were running directly into the wind. \u00a0Sometimes, a gust would push me back a little. \u00a0I found two ladies who were running close to the pace I wanted to run. \u00a0I admit to drifting off of them. \u00a0Eventually, a lady with loud music playing caught up with us and stayed with us. \u00a0Her music was the wrong tempo for me to be able to maintain my pace. \u00a0It was slowing me down. \u00a0A Lot! \u00a0I had to pick it up and leave that group. \u00a0They were nice ladies and I had enjoyed their company.<\/p>\n

The course itself was mostly country roads. \u00a0The first mile, like I said, was one long hill. \u00a0The next 5 miles were rolling hills. \u00a0Two pretty flat hills. \u00a0After that, we turned onto a converted rail line that they had made into a bike\/running trail. \u00a0It was a nice trail. \u00a0The trees on either side kept the wind at bay. \u00a0The remainder of the race was on that trail.<\/p>\n

The lady I carpooled with, her name is Bonnie. \u00a0She is an amazing runner! \u00a0Someday, I will blog about her but not today. \u00a0She places at every race she runs. \u00a0She came in at 2:39 today. \u00a0I had seen her way ahead of me on that hill on the first mile. \u00a0I had not seen her when I passed her.<\/p>\n

After I had completed the race today, I was looking all over the place for that woman! \u00a0We had agreed not to stay for awards. \u00a0We both had busy days ahead. \u00a0I couldn’t find her for anything. \u00a0So, I did what I do best. \u00a0I talked to people. \u00a0As I was chatting, there she came across the finish line! \u00a0No wonder I couldn’t find here!<\/p>\n

We met up and she immediately asked my time. \u00a0I told her and asked if she was ready to go.<\/p>\n

“Girl! \u00a0With a time like that? \u00a0You placed!!! \u00a0We’re staying for awards!” \u00a0She said.<\/p>\n

“Bonnie. \u00a0Don’t be silly. \u00a0I didn’t place. \u00a0I never place. \u00a0Let’s just go.”<\/p>\n

Just then, they announced they were doing awards in 3 minutes. \u00a0I couldn’t get her to leave. \u00a0Stubborn lady. \u00a0They started awards oldest to youngest. \u00a0Bonnie is in the 60-69. \u00a0She paced 3rd! \u00a0I wasn’t surprised. \u00a0Like I said, she always places. \u00a0She was so excited! \u00a0I was happy for her!<\/p>\n

She got her award and I congratulated her and said, “Okay, let’s go.”<\/p>\n

She firmly said that we were staying. \u00a0I’m in the 50-59 age division and it would just be a few minutes for them to announce it.<\/p>\n

*sigh*<\/p>\n

They did the men’s 50-59. \u00a0Then the women’s. \u00a0I thought that if I had ANY chance at all, it would be third. \u00a0Nope. \u00a0It wasn’t me. \u00a0I was ready to leave. \u00a0Then, I head, “Women’s 50-59, 2nd place, Melinda Howard.” \u00a0I about died!<\/p>\n

Bonnie, of course, went nuts!!!<\/p>\n

Nice and loud she says, “I told you girl!!! Now get up there and get your award!”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We finally walked back to the car. \u00a0I was holding myself together and Bonnie was talking a mile a minute. \u00a0We got in the car, shut the doors and I screamed, “I placed!!! \u00a0I can’t believe it!!!”<\/p>\n

She just laughed at me.<\/p>\n

I called MFH (My Favorite Husband) from the car and told him. \u00a0He was really happy for me. \u00a0The funny thing is, the rest of the day he keeps saying to me. “2:19, huh? \u00a0Wow! \u00a0I don’t think I’ve ever run a Half that fast!”<\/p>\n

I think he’s a keeper! \u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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It wasn’t chilly this morning in Mississippi. \u00a0Nope. \u00a0It was cold. \u00a0At gun time, it was 30F with 15 mph north wind. \u00a0Brrr!!! \u00a0It wouldn’t have been so cold except for the wind. \u00a0But it was what it was. The first mile was one big one mile long hill. \u00a0Now, I had done a little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,8,3,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2759"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2762,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2759\/revisions\/2762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}