Swampy

This weekend, we went to a friend of ours 4 year old son’s birthday party. The party was at Millaree Hunt Club. Since it was raining all week and that day, driving on a muddy road in a truck made for some good times. We were sliding all over the place and not to mention you should see Ben’s truck. At the party the girls got to decorate fake snakes, eat gator, and even pet a real alligator. They had a guy come and bring several different snakes, a turtle, and a little alligator. I don’t think he knew we actually had gator for lunch.

That afternoon we headed to North Augusta, for the Augusta Half Marathon in the morning. The rain and cold continued, but finally that morning it had cleared. The only thing "swampy" was my performance. The group I had been training with did Myrtle Beach the weekend before, so I based my times off of theirs. The only problem was that they were at the beach and I was in “hill” central. I knew the course was going to be tough, there are several big hills that I knew would be challenging, but I still had hopes that I would have a good time.

The race started and I had a good pace going. I was aiming for around a 6:24 minute a mile. The first mile was 6:02, and then came mile two, 6:15, and then mile 3, 6:18, and then BAM the first big hill. My splits went up and down from there. My next mile was 7:27, but then I had a huge downhill which brought my time back down to the pace I was aiming for. Just when I gotten back into rhythm, BAM another hill and then another. This was around mile 7 and 8. Again I had another downhill after to try to make some time. The hills were pretty much over at this point, well besides some much smaller hills. Around mile 10 or so, the course goes around a lake, and at this point my pace was going all over the place. I stayed near a guy who I had run with at a race in Columbia, and we kept going back and forth, passing each other. I finally got ahead of him after another hill and we were back on the last stretch home. I saw what my time was and how much further I had to go, and knew I wasn’t going to PR.

The last few minutes were the worse; I was trying to hold back how upset I was, so it would not affect my running even more. I thought about all the training I had done to prepare for the race, and knew I didn’t have any excuses. Last year I got second place with a time of 1:27:30. This year I got second place with a time of 1:27:30. 

Swampy…that was my performance…now what do I do about it.

The only thing good about the race was seeing Ben, Mr. Riddle, Kari, and the girls cheering for me. They were at the top of a huge hill, which was a perfect spot to give me the kick I needed to make it up the hill. I love hearing the girls screaming, "Go Mommy" or "Go Kenzie". I love having them hug me at the end, because whatever place/time I get they don't know the difference. They are just excited and happy for me no matter what.