Iron Horse Half Marathon

Such a great group of friends & Runners!

Last Sunday was half #5 for me this year, the Iron Horse Half Marathon at the beautiful Midway, KY. This is the second year that I have ran this half. I really enjoy this half even though it is hilly, it is VERY BEAUTIFUL going by several horse farms. This year Jeff Galloway was there but I never saw him:(

Me in the background & Jenna waving she is so stinking cute:)

Miles 1 - 4  9:19,  8:48, 8:43, 8:47
This was my friend Jenna's first half. We have been running together in the mornings for a couple of months now but she is way faster than me on 5k's (and she's 10yrs younger than me!!). She had a time goal of under 2hrs and honestly I just wanted to be able to stay with her as long as I could. Her cousin was also running with her, he is kinda like a running expert and was awesome to have along as well as his friend, they talked alot which helped me just listening to pass the miles along. We lined up fairly close to the front but it was still pretty packed for the first few miles. They also reversed the course this year, last year I remember the second half being harder than the first so I liked the thought of them reversing it. I took a Power Bar gel before the race started and brought another one with me. Around the 2nd mile we passed a horse farm where a heard of horses were stampeding up and down the fence line, very cool! I felt really good these miles!

Still feeling good!

Miles 5 - 8  9:06, 9:01, 8:54, 8:51
The course is very rolling but pretty much for every uphill you went back downhill. I knew we was a little fast during the first 4mi but I liked "banking" some time. Cody told us we was a little fast and should probably slow it down a little. I was thankful my knee was starting to hurt (it had been hurting a little off and on for a couple of weeks) but I was still keeping up! Cody was great asking me questions about where my knee was hurting, if anything else was hurting and giving suggestions on what to do, except after I told him all my symptoms of my left knee hurting I realized "I lied its my right knee!" oops! He laugh and said he thought it was my right one all along! The course sorta makes a figure 8, you go out about 3.25mi turn and go back then got out the other direction doing the same. So we looped back through town and this was the only time until the finish there was crowd support. For a small race and small crowd they was loud and very cheerful:) When we reached mile 8 I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up much longer.

Around half way point, can you tell the look of my knee hurting? UGGHH!

Miles 9 - 12  10:24, 9:18, 10:10, 10:24
Yep I fell behind and fast! Half way through mile 8 I stopped to stretch my knee of a fence, I knew there was no way I was going to catch back up or keep up so I told everyone to go on. Mile 9 seemed like it was uphill the entire mile and I started walking~ dang it! I don't remember that long uphill mile last year. I wish I never stopped to stretch, I wish I would have just pushed through it maybe I would have never started walking! Mile 10 was around the turn around and mostly downhill so I picked up a little time and speed, 11 & 12 was pretty much a run/walk running as much and as fast as I could and trying to keep the walking to a minimum. I saw Jenna after she made the turn around and I was closer than I thought but I got really far behind in miles 11 & 12.

The look of Determination! Less than half a mile to go!

Miles 13 - .04  9:56, 8:09
I told myself to run the entire last mile through the finish but that didn't happen:( My dang knee just wouldn't quit throbbing! I think I like the course the other way better.  I even walked with only a half mile to go! But from that point on I pushed it to the end!

Oh yea the finish line!

Although I didn't make it under 2hrs and I was 2mins slower than last year I am still happy with my finish time of 2:02:01!! Considering the way I felt and that I didn't train on any hills I feel like I did a good job:)

Look at that HUGE medal!

The coolest medal EVER! The light actuallys lights up!