:28 seconds...

The Alamo 13.1 half marathon would be my 4th half marathon in 4 months. When I first signed up for it, I was leery of the timing because it falls on the first weekend of March Madness. If you don't know me, you may not know that I have an almost unhealthy obsession with college basketball in the month of March. This is when college basketball holds its national championships and from Thursday-Sunday of that first weekend there are basketball games on from 11 am in the morning to 11 pm (or later) at night. And I have to watch as many as possible. I schedule days off from work so I can stay home and watch them on opening day. 

But I reasoned with myself that I could run a half marathon in the morning and be home in time for the tip-off of the first game. No socializing at the end of this race - Just get in, get it done, and get out. My partner in crime, Aixa, was a great friend and picked up my packet for me so I wouldn't have to leave the house and miss a game. Again, many thanks to you!!

This was my first time doing this race and it was a decent race. There were some sections of the course that had lots of turns and it takes you down on the Riverwalk so it's pretty scenic for the out of towners doing the race but, at the same time, these turns and tight corners made it hard to get around people and possibly slowed my pace just a bit. The section through Brackenridge park and Incarnate Word was nice. I got to see some sections that I hadn't seen before so that was neat. So, while not my favorite course, I would still recommend it to someone if they wanted to do it. 

                       

I didn't really have any time goals for this race, except maybe see if I could maybe go under 2 hrs. As the time and miles ticked off my calculations had me coming in around 2:02 or 2:03. For how tired I was for staying up so late the night before I decided to just settle for that and I backed off my pace just a bit. Why I decided to do this, I'm not sure. Just goes to show that my head and heart weren't really in this race. After I finished and looked at my Garmin I wanted to scream. My time showed 2:00:28. No way!! Only :28 seconds away from going under 2 hrs when I totally had it in me to push a little harder than I had!!! 

The rain we had the day before the race caused one section to be a mud bath!

My big lesson here was to never give up in a race!! I'm dying knowing that I left those :28 seconds out there and that the next time I run I will not pull myself back. I will go for it with everything I have so I don't have to see those :28 seconds mocking me!!