My friends Alexis and Tammy and myself decided a few weeks ago to sign up for a half marathon in The Dalles that was held this past Saturday. It's a really small race and didn't cost much to run in. After we signed up we found a course map and realized it was a 380 ft. climb spread over 5 miles. We prepared for the worst. Basically, we were scared to death.
We started and by mile two the hills started appearing. Not like we expected though. It was very hilly but also manageable. We reached the top of the out and back course at mile 7 and realized we were averaging about a 9:08. I knew we could improve our time because all those hills we had just climbed, we could now run back down. That's just what we did. We picked it up and were even able to chat most of the time.
Alexis blew me away with her determination. This was her first half marathon ever, and she was a true champ. She chatted the whole time and seemed unphased by the arduous task ahead of us.
Tammy is truly amazing too. She had a bad knee most of the time, and yet still pulled through with a great time. I can't help but be proud of my friends.
In the end my time was 1:56:28. An 8:54 average.
I will always remember this race. I enjoyed the race. There was only one "I want to die moment" toward the end, but for the most part I felt pretty darn good.
Running with friends is wonderful. It's the not being alone that feels so reassuring when your trying to get through a race.
I would do this course again in a heartbeat.
