Akron Half Marathon - I LOVE the HALF!

The alarm went off at 4:00 am and boy was that early. I did hit snooze once. Then it went off again I got up, got my clothes on, did my hair, let Tiger out, drugged Tiger, got coffee ready, made my pre-race PB&J, grabbed my bag and hit the door. I met up with Janet and Cindy and off we went. We made it over to Akron with no problems and parked the car, got our stuff into the bags and made our way to the start. We made a potty stop at UA (I made it through the day with no port-o-potty). We dropped out bags at the gear trucks and went over to the tent and then they announced it was time to move to the start line.

Cindy and I lined up with the 11:00 min mile, even though we had no intention of actually running that 'slow' Janet went a little further back. I felt a complete calm at the line. I knew I could easily run a half. It was no problem. I knew that I had done the training. There were pre-race prayers, the National Anthem, and then the start. It took us three minutes to get to the actual start line. But we were off....

The first mile was tough because we couldn't get a pace. There were SO many people. We were weaving in and out of people. It was really frustrating. The sceond mile was better. I got a cup of water and we were back out on the course. The half marathon is predominately through the city. Mile Three we were beginning to find a groove and moving on were were keeping at a 10:30 pace. Miles four and Five were through a little village which was nice. I am still amazed at how many people come out to watch and cheer people on for this race. The volunteers are awesome. At mile 6.2 they passed out GU packets. I got one and sucked it down and then the water stop was coming up except...there was NO WATER...can you beleive that? I always run with my fuel belt. Today I decided to run without it and they run out of water/powerade. Once woman actually said to us that there was another stop about a mile away, we would be okay....um yeah...okay. I really would be okay except I can get aches when I don't get water quick enough after taking GU. Mile 7 water station, there was barely water...I got literally a swallow. Yeah, that is goiing to help. My legs felt great but now I was getting worried about the water situation. One church group had a table of water. They gave a nice cup of COLD water and thanked us for running. They were so nice. The water really helped. Mile 8, good to go...getting it done...Miles 9 & 10...still hanging in. Mile 11, the half marathon split off from the full. I was so excited only 2.1 to go...little did I know that most of that 2 was up freaking hill....Oh my...it was insane...but I did it and I kept it at a 10:33 pace. I could hear the crowds and boy were they loud. We were getting close to the finish . Cindy finished in 2:19, I finished n 2:21 and Janet finished n 2:46. It was a nice day for the race. There was no rain...the humidity wasn't too bad...my only complaint was the water situation.