Coldest Day of the Year...and My First Half Marathon

So today was the coldest day of the year in Atlanta. Of course it was, because today was also my first Half Marathon.  First, I realize for those of you from the rest of the Country 26 degrees with a 12 degree wind chill in February is considered balmy; and you consider us Southerners to be major wussies about the cold, but I am from Georgia.  That thing about thinning blood is real people.   We don't build up a tolerance like those of you residing in Maine or Wisconsin.  That being said I am a fan of colder weather.  About 10 degrees warmer, sans windchill would have been ideal.

So enough with the weather report, what you really want to know is did I finish and did I finish in the back of ambulance?  The answer are yes and no respectively.  So I met my goal.  I finished the race with an average pace of 9:26/mile.  I am pretty happy with that.  My training runs I had been shooting for around 9:45/mile so the adrenaline of the race ramped me up a little.  Kind of knew it would.  Still the best thing about doing a distance you never have is: automatic PR. 

I would say, minus the somewhat arctic temps the race was pretty perfect for me.  I am a less is more kind of a gal.  So I wore my NB 730's a minimal shoe.  I had a bagel with Peanut butter about and an hour and half before the race.  I stopped to have a little water and one thing of Accelerade during the race.  I had my sports beans.  Took a couple, and my honey stinger waffle, did not need it.  I felt good.  The cooler temps probably kept me from feeling dehydrated or depleted. 

Also hubby and I made a plan that he would meet me at mile 12 and run me in to the finish.  So during the hilly 5-11 mile section I just kept saying to myself "I will see Yung in 7 miles, I will see Yung in 6 miles, etc."  And as I rounded the corner to mile 12 there he was.  It was the final push I needed. 

I am happy.  A couple of years ago if you had asked what I will never be able to do I would have said "run. "  Today I completed one of my New Year Goals and ran 13.1 miles in a pretty decent time feeling pretty good.  I do feel like I accomplished something, and I owe most of it to the support of my husband who always believed I could be a runner, even when I didn't.   What do you think you can't do?  Maybe you might surprise yourself too?