Half Marathon

This morning I ran the Phoenix YMCA Half Marathon. The race officially started by a shot from the double-barreled shotgun of Wyatt Earp. You can see, Keeper got a picture of him firing the gun. We thought that was pretty funny. The race started in South Mountain Park and ran down Central Ave. and then out on the canal. It was an out and back course. The canal down on the south side of the city is pretty crappy compared to where I've been doing my training runs in Scottsdale. The canal is more of a creek and the path isn't very wide. The race was small ( a couple hundred people doing the half) but the volunteers were plentiful and very appreciative of the runners, because the money from the race funds their youth and teen programs (which is pretty cool). They had no gatorade at the water stops, only water. The weather got hot and sunny pretty quickly, and I got bored pretty easily on the canal, especially knowing I'd have to turn around and do it again on the 2nd half. My first 2 miles were faster than I wanted to go but I settled into a comfortable pace around mile 3. I was very pleased to have no leg cramps (yay!) and I saved some much needed juice for the last 2 miles, which were uphill (going back up South Mountain, into the park). Darsh. I had hoped to break 2 hours, but finished (strong!) in 2:01:34. I am looking forward to a flatter (and hopefully faster) PF Chang's in January. The post race organization was well-stocked with water, gatorade, cliff bars, and Einstein Brothers bagels. We didn't stick around for the awards, but instead headed up to the mountain to the very top (Dobbins Lookout). Chloe was a great spectator with Keeper at her first race. I'm sure she wondered why she wasn't running.