Half-Marathoners!

February 22nd, 2009 - the BIG day. We've been training for this day for almost a year. Well, at least some of us!

We were all looking pretty happy BEFORE the race...from left to right: Melissa, Andy, Bobby, Diane, and Joe

From feb

I wish I had all of us in this picture - Alex and Michelle are missing from our small group. I hope to add another photo soon - a post-race photo of the group that they took at the finish line in front of a large sand castle. I'll post it when I can.

It was a great day. Low 60's, no wind, sunny but not too hot or humid. The A1A Half-Marathon course is flat and scenic - with ocean views for many miles, and a two-mile loop through Birch State Park. And to be able to do it with friends and family was wonderful. Two of Andy's brothers came into town just for the race - Joe from Orlando and Bobby from Philly. Plus, we knew a number of other people from our running club along the course. It's always helpful to have people cheering you on by name.

We all did well. Nah, we all did *awesome*. Everyone was happy with their times, especially Andy and Alex who crossed the finish line together and beat their goal by two minutes. I was excited that I was actually able to run the course in it's entirety. A knee injury had plagued me for the last three weeks and I wasn't able to properly train during that time. Granted, my knee is hurting now, but at least it didn't on race day - how lucky is that?

Special thanks to Melissa and Alex for being such great training partners this last year. It's definitely more enjoyable running long distances with partners! And thanks to Joe and Bobby for making the effort to travel to do it with us - and for the phone calls with your training reports to keep us on our toes!