How I Did It

Before I forget, I want to document exactly how I ran a sub-two-hour half marathon. The 12 weeks of training were as I mentioned on Monday. But on the race day, here's what I did:

• Woke up about two hours before the race started and ate a banana with some peanut butter and drank a pint of water.
• Got one of my running buddies to french braid my hair. No swishing ponies!
• Warmed up with mile walk to race start.
• Forwent headphones because I usually listen to podcasts and I was afraid the talking would slow me down; I just wanted to focus on my speed.
• Drank small amounts at every water stop, including those at the beginning.
• Ate one sport bean at every mile.
• Set my Garmin to beep at every mile so I could monitor my pace.
• Started out slowly, and then picked up the pace.
• Ignored early warnings of dehydration and just kept going. I had goals, body!

But now that it's done, I've been asked what my **new** running goals are. For summer, it's all about just running. The heat and humidity are usually run killers, so as long as I'm doing something, I'll be happy. But maybe come fall, I'll work on my 10K pace in preparation for this race. Because you know I'm doing it. Or maybe I just need to practice running in a bunny suit.

Oh, Rhett. There you go again, photo bombing our picture.