Race Recap: 2013 New Years Double Half Marathon!

Whew! 2013 flew by! A whirlwind year with lots of change ended perfectly on New Years Eve when I PR'd (set a personal record) my latest half marathon!

I'm really lucky to live in an area with so many awesome races! In Allen, there is a race called the New Years Double Marathon and Half Marathon that a fellow runner told me about last year. But being a winter race in North Texas, you never know what the weather might be, and I'm one of the puny runners that prefers treadmills because they are in a temperature-controlled room! However, I was determined not to let my diagnosis get the best of me, so I signed up for the legendary race, despite the uncertain weather!

The race day didn't start until 8:40am, so the sun had time to shine and warm up the course beforehand. It was so sunny and comfortable at about 32° at the beginning of the race and was about 46° at the finish line.

The course was a loop that HMers ran twice and Marathoners ran four times.

(Picture source: http://newyearsdouble.com/)

I haven't done a looped race before, but I liked it because I was able to strategize the best place to  speed up and finish the race strong!


Which I did, but I may have hit it TOO hard because as soon as I crossed the finish line, I waved for The Hubs to stand next to me in case I passed out :)  I seriously have the best friends and family who drove all across the state to come watch me run for 2+ hours!

This is my little (even though he's way tall) brother and me post-race. This kid is super awesome and was a big help when I was training at home over Thanksgiving. We watched one of our favorite musicals, the Newsies, and he didn't judge me when I was trying to dance and sing while on the treadmill :)

My awesome husband who is always supportive and encouraging, and doesn't even complain when I ask him to rub my sore feet every night :)

My fantastic friend who made this super awesome sign! How cute is it?!

When I crossed the finish line, my Garmin Forerunner 410 had my time around 2:16, so I was super excited to see that my time wasn't a user-error and that I had in fact crushed my PR by 4 minutes!

I was really happy and excited about this race. I'm thankful I did well and LOVED all the support I had with my family there. 

It was solely by the grace of God that I was able to do so well. There were times where my legs hurt so badly I wasn't sure if I could continue. Then I hurt my foot. And my lower back. But with every pain I prayed, "Dear Lord, please make this pain go away." and moments later, I felt new again. 

The night before the race, in order to keep my nerves at bay, I was studying the great quotes and scriptures I've collected over time. The one that stuck out to me the most was Hebrews 12:1-2: 

I was surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (my family and other spectators) and was throwing off everything that hinders (my MS) and was running the race laid out for me, fixing my hopes and successes on Jesus.

Next up, the Rock 'N' Roll Dallas Half Marathon with my Dad! I can't wait! It's going to be a fun race with great company and wonderful memories!

Kristen

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans." - Proverbs 16:3