Gulf Coast Half Marathon on Pensacola Beach...AND A NEW PR!!!!

Stats-
13.1 miles/2:24:37
Average pace- 11:02

GARMIN Stats-
13.32 miles/2:24:39
Average pace- 10:52

On the way to the race this morning, we stopped at McDonald's for a bathroom break and guess who I ran into?  My Aunt Cathy and Uncle George!!!  Aunt Cathy was running the race today too and I was hoping to see her!  Never thought I'd run into her at the same potty stop lol!  Of course, I had to have a picture with her!

Here are a few pre race pictures!

Paige, me, and Christina!

Me and Paigey and our "every race" picture together!

Sole2Soul Sisters ready to run 13.1!

Lisa (my friend from DailyMile...LOVE this girl), me, and Paige!  SO glad we got to see Lisa and her hubby Jeremy before the race!

I was sooo happy to see Tamara!!!  I graduated high school with her and haven't seen her since.  She contacted me on Facebook a few months ago about running and this was her first half today!  She did great!!!

And here are a few more of my friends from DailyMile!  Some of them I don't know but I met Steve for the first time yesterday at packet pick-up!  He's the man on the end right of the picture!  Super sweet and encouraging guy!

I went into this race not expecting much...I was just going to have fun running.  The weather was hot, humid, and very windy at the start so I knew it would be a little difficult with all of those factors.  The first 3 miles were typical for me...couldn't find my groove.  But once I warmed up I felt amazing!!!  I just ran the way I felt...slowed down when I wanted and sped up when I wanted.  I never hit a wall and never had to walk.  Well, that apparently worked pretty well for me because I PRed by about 3 minutes!!!!!  I am sooo excited!!!!  I said at the start that this was not a race to PR at due to the weather...and then I proved myself wrong lol! 



It was great seeing so many people that I haven't seen in forever or have just met for the first time...Lisa, Jeremy, Steve, Tamara, Coby, and my Aunt Cathy and Uncle George!!!  That is one of the best things about a smaller race...usually you find your people! 

Here's some of us after the race!

We are proud of our medals!!!  It's all about the bling you know!  ;-)

I love this race series!  They have super unique medals...they serve as bottle openers!

And the shirt is always super cute too!  It's not a tech shirt but is really soft!



Now I'm going to bask in my accomplishment with my family....my four year old boy is pretty proud of his momma...he's been wearing my medal ever since I got home!  :-)