Good run Hon

Steve and I ran the Baltimore half-marathon yesterday. We headed up Friday afternoon to pick up our packets then went to Hotel DeGuzman to spend the night. My parents have been through our pre-race ritual enough times to know that we usually eat pasta the night before a race and were nice enough to cook us a pasta dinner. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Race morning we slept in until 6:30 since our race didn't start until 9:45. After breakfast we took the light rail into the city. One of the nice things about the Baltimore Running Festival is that they open up the Ravens' Stadium so that people can use the restrooms - much nicer than the port-o-stinkies.

We made our way to the Inner Harbor where the race starts and were on our way at 9:45. Steve and I ran the first mile or so together before I told him to scurry along so that I didn't hold him back. The first three miles are always the hardest for me since it takes me a while to get into a rhythm. I was finally warmed up by mile 3 and not breathing like I needed a respirator. Well, I think it was mile 3 anyway; I missed mile markers 2-5 so it was somewhere around there. Having missed so many mile markers it was hard to tell how fast I was running. After finally seeing a marker, I did some bad math in my head and concluded I was running an 8-something/mile pace. I freaked out a little bit since I wasn't sure I could keep this up for another 6-7 miles. I kept on running and at each mile marker I'd look at my watch and find I was maintaining between an 8:10 and 8:20 pace. Cool.

After seeing the guy in a tiger suit dancing on top of a car to Eye of the Tiger, I decided to grab a handful of Gummi Bears from the Gummi Bear Guy. This was a risky move since my stomach isn't used to gummi bears during a run so I'm not sure why I did it. I have to admit that those were the best damn gummies I've ever had even though it was a little tough to run and chew at the same time.

The last mile of the race runs between Camden Yards and the football stadium. People are lined up along both sides of the course cheering so it makes for a great finish. I ended up finishing in 1:50:55 - my new personal record for the half-marathon. Funny enough, my last half-marathon PR was at the 2006 Baltimore Half. It was great to FINALLY beat my last PR of 1:56:58. I was even more excited to find out I finished 38 out of 652 in my division (females 35-39) which puts me in the top 5-6% for my age group. Yay me!

Steve finished a few minutes before me in 1:46:26. We celebrated with steamed crabs and beer at my parents.