Huntsville Half Marathon Race Report

My first half marathon is officially in the books, and it went better than I hoped for.

I rode up to Huntsville with Kelly and Jessica, as Jen, Coop, her brother, Tim and his wife, Nikki, drove up later to wait for me at the finish line. It was very cold (reportedly 28 degrees) when we arrived at about 8 a.m. Fortunately, we had drop bags, so we all bundled up nicely and hung out on the bus until they kicked us off after shuttling us up to the starting point.

When the race started, Kelly hung back with Jessica and I for a few miles. Since he is a much faster runner than both of us -- much to our dismay -- he kind-of pushed us to go a little faster than we originally wanted to. Eventually, he took off and we knew he was going for his goal time of less than two hours. From that point, Jess and I had a pretty smooth run.

Seeing Coop in this goofy outfit at the finish line was a perfect way to cap the race. I ran all 13.1 miles in 2:12:16.

My knee pain arrived about six miles in, which scared the shit out me. Usually, when the pain comes, I'm forced to stop and walk and I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal time of 2:25:00 if I did that. I pushed through it for about a mile and the pain gradually wore off entirely. The course was as beautiful as everyone said it was, and having Jessica there as a running partner was such a blessing. I think we kept each other honest at a solid pace and neither of us wanted to be the one who stopped and walked. It felt like we both hit a wall around the 11-mile mark, but there was a lot of entertainment (bands, cheerleaders, and other various live music) that peppered the final few miles of the course and that kept our minds occupied for the remainder of the race.

I sprinted the final 250 yards or so, even though I told Jess I wasn't going to. ;) Sorry, Jess. My competitive side kicked in a bit at the end. I couldn't find Jen, Coop, Tim and Nikki when I finished, but I located them just after I received my medal and cut the timing chip off my shoe. Kelly was there waiting, too, and he said he finished in 2:01:00, which was just over his goal time. I'm sure he would've gone under it if he didn't hang back with Jess and I for the first two or three miles.

All smiles after the race. Kudos to Jessica, who has always been my favorite running partner.

We snapped a few photos, got our stuff, said goodbye to Kelly and Jess and ate some lunch at the Huntsville Barbecue Company. When I got home, I looked up my finish time online and I clocked 2:12:16, which was almost 13 minutes faster than my goal. That time isn't going to turn any heads in the running community, but I am proud of myself for doing it. Despite fears about cardio and knee pain, I performed much better than expected. I truly don't enjoy running, but now I can say I've completed a half marathon and ran the whole way. And no, I don't have plans to do a full.

Three days later, I still feel like I was hit by a truck. My calves have never been so sore in my life...

Total distance: 13.1 miles running