Half at the Hamptons

Over Presidents Day Weekend, I ran the Half at the Hamptons, a half marathon in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.  Despite the great course, I had a very difficult time with this race last February.  This year, I didn't put pressure on myself to do well because I was not able to train very much, due to a combination of weather (believe it or not) and extra commitments at work and at home.  I decided to do the race anyway and figured that if I felt good when it started, I would run as hard as I could but if I did not feel good, I would just treat it as a long training run.  The conditions were perfect and I felt really good when the race started, so I ran hard.  I definitely went out too hard but thanks to my sister, who ran me in the last three miles, I was able to get a personal best by 27 seconds.  I placed 685 out of 1331 runners (top 51%); 302 out of 773 females (top 39%); and 44/117 females in my age group (top 36%).  It is always my goal to place in the top third out of females and in my age group, and although I fell a little bit short of that goal, many of the racers were training for the Boston Marathon or another spring marathon, so I won't beat myself up too much.  I am planning to run another half marathon this spring and then take off the long, hot summer from racing.  Special thanks, as always, to Lee and the girls, who are a constant source of support and encouragement.

Kathleen and I, before the race.

I think that this is mile 9 or 10.