Downhill at Dawn Half Marathon Recap

My second half marathon is in the books. Here are the thoughts:
1. I beat my last time. My first half (Derby half last April in the ville) I did it in 3.00.07 and was very disappointed in my time. This year I did it in 2.51.00 – 13.04 pace for a mile. My goal is to almost always beat my PR (if I am doing the race for time).
2. I wanted to see how my self-motivation was. I ran this race knowing no one, having no one cheering me on at the finish line, no iPod. How was I going to keep up the motivation when the running got rough? Almost like preaching the gospel to myself every morning (and yes, the gospel is so much more important) I just kept talking to myself and being encouraging to others around me.
3. I am sore. I am definitely more sore than I was after the first half. My hams hurt, my biceps hurt (go figure), my hips hurt, I have a no-skin part of the achilles heel where I got a blister on Thursday and just peeled the skin off, went with a bandaid. I did notice the pain during the race, my feet hurt – the tops of them. My neck hurts and my abs hurt. Believe me – all over.
4. I ran with a 66 year old Navy kid who has taught for 41 years. I jogged, he was walking for a good bit – miles 4-9 about. That is definitely the farthest I had gone without taking many walking breaks. We talked about injuries, Joseph A Banks shirts at goodwill, other races he had done. He finished 32 seconds behind me. He was a good partner.
5. This race was held at Ridgecrest – Lifeway’s camp in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. Gorgeous. Mosty downhill. Not overly muggy like Raleigh has been lately. Since we started at dawn (actually 6.06am) – it stayed relatively cool – and believe me – in the sun – I was praying for shade and extremely thankful for it.
6. Part of the course was on gravel. Which I would have gladly changed for pavement. Bring on the pavement!
7. The registration was a little disorganized. But, at 5.15 what else would you expect?
8. Loved the shirts that we got! Long sleeve blue whicking (sp?) material shirts.
9. The whole course there were water stations, goo stations, and gatorade stations. I sweated enough to definitely need it – so I got 3 water cups at stations. No port-a-potty needed! They even had the Old Fort cops and the race director driving by with water.
10. Yes, I will be doing this one again next year. I did enjoy it. Anyone up for doing it with me? I also want to go to Jacksonville next March and do the Gate River Run. I’ve always wanted to do it.