Run with the Jets: Bay Area Half Marathon

This past weekend, Wes was off at our church's men's retreat, and I ran my first half marathon. I've been getting back in to running over the past few months, and as I started to build up my distance, I got a bug in my ear to do a half marathon before the year was out. So I followed a low key training plan, and this Sunday I did the Run with the Jets: Bay Area Half Marathon (don't ask me who the Jets are, I have no idea).

Sunday morning Aunt Diane came over bright and early, or should I say, dark and early at 6:20 to watch Emeline while I went off to run 13.1 miles. I gave her the low down on Emeline and headed off to pick up Sarah. Then Sarah and I headed up to Coyote Point Park in San Mateo. The weather was lovely, chilly but lovely. We thought it would rain, but it was bright and sunny. We found parking, got all our gu ready to go, and headed down to the start line.

At the start.

The course was a flat trail along the bay. I thought the trail would be dirt, but most of it was paved. There was some dirt or sand on the side of the trail, so from time to time I ran on that to give my shins a break. I think it's safe to say, this run felt good! I had run 10 miles the week before, and I survived that, so I felt relatively confident going into this event. Sarah was an awesome running partner, and we chatted the whole way. We kept up a run 5 min, walk 1 min interval to help keep my shin splints and knee pain from acting up, and it proved to be a good pace for her too given that she just finished running a full marathon only a few weeks before.

I started to feel stiff in the last few miles, but no major pain, and we kept up a steady pace. As we neared the finish line, I started to get excited! A half marathon! I was about to finish a half marathon! This had been one of my long term goals, but I never really imagined doing it so soon. As we got up to the finish, I saw someone wearing a medal, and I got even more excited. I had thought this race was pretty low key, so I didn't expect a finishers medal, but seeing one at the end made me want to pick up the pace for the finish.

At the finish.

We crossed the finish line with a time of 2 hours and 47 minutes. My lofty goal was 2:45, but my realistic goal was 3 hours, so I was pleased with our time. We got our medals, cheapy ones, but medals nonetheless, the last of the Hobees coffee cake, and did some stretching. Then we hiked up the giant hill to our car (torture after 13.1 miles!) and headed home.

The hill back to the car. Also shows a bit of the beautiful scenery comprised of eucalyptus trees and the bay (forgot to take a picture of the beautiful bay!)

After resting for the car ride home, we realized how hungry we were, so we made a quick stop at Five Guys for some delicious burgers. Then dropped off Sarah, and back home to Emeline...who had a great time playing with Mommy's first Half Marathon medal.