Post-race updates

Well, I did better time-wise than I thought! Officially my time for the race ended up being 3:04:06. It's a little slower than I had trained for, but I also didn't train with so many hills either. Ideally I admit I would have liked to have had a 2:45 time, but I met my ultimate goal: finish and still be counted among the living. Since I accomplished both criteria and had a blast doing so, I can't really complain.

Speaking of slow, the results also include an age grade. What is an age grade? Short answer is it figures out how you rank among those of similar age. I can compare myself to others and see how I stand. I found my result to be quite funny: 35.8%. That's not even on the scale! HAHA! Oh well. Just as I was telling Rex tonight over dinner: I'm not someone who can count running as one of my strengths or natural abilities, but I enjoy it and I'm glad it's so popular because many who are like me keep me company. I ran with a huge crowd of people during the race, so I know I wasn't alone in my time. I even passed people! Woooo!

Once I have some pictures I'll post them. Right now with nearly 11,000 finishers just for the half-marathon (the marathon I believe has around 2,000), the photographers have a lot to sort through and catalog. Red took a picture of me in my shiny blanket post-race too with my medal. I hope they look okay. I wasn't that concerned about appearance when I was running.

Here's the list of lessons I learned from all this hoopla:

• Training for a long race like this takes a lot of time. That being said, I think I will never train for a full marathon. While I enjoyed my training for the most part, I can't fathom giving up so much time. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future. Five years ago you would never have pegged me as a runner.
• 13.1 miles is the perfect long distance race. Just enough to pose a major challenge for someone like me, while not so all-consuming that Rex thinks he's lost his wife to some crazy people.
• I am so doing the Georgia Half-Marathon again. So much fun!
• Having the 13.1 sticker on my car is insanely gratifying. The accomplishment alone is addictive. I can see why people run so many races of significant distance.
• The compression sleeves are a life saver. Oddly enough my hips have been tight and sore, while the rest of me is fine.
• I know I talked a big game about cross training, but I did none. Next time I will incorporate some into my training plan. I promise!

I'll figure out some new goals for myself, but for now I'm enjoying my rest. I can honestly say I've earned it.

Here's a huge shout out to Red and Atalanta for meeting me after the race. It meant so much to me to know I had people waiting for me in the family reunion area. Rex deserves a huge prize for putting up with all my training. He's doing the Couch to 5k training plan, and he's really liking it.

BBIAB!