Glass City Half Marathon

I wasn't nervous the entire weekend over the half marathon. If I was going to get a new personal record, it would happen. If I didn't get a PR, I knew I would have plenty more chances to get it.

The morning of the race, it was cold and very windy. I didn't know how the wind would affect my race. When I crossed the start line, I just ran the same pace as everyone around me. I didn't look at my watch until crossing the first mile. It read: 9:02. I thought to myself that was slow. But really it wasn't. I maintained that pace for basically the entire half marathon.

I knew when I crossed seven miles in 62 minutes I was going to get my PR. I just knew I had to keep running at the same pace. After running 11 miles, I looked at my watch to see the time. It read: 1:48. I told myself that if I happen to slow down to a 10 minute mile, I would still finish under two hours.

I hesitated looking at my watch near the finish. I didn't know if my time was where I wanted it to be. Before running into the Glass Bowl, I peaked at my watch. I couldn't believe it read 1:55. I was so happy. I wanted the best time possible, so I sprinted to the finish and crossed the line at 1:56:53. I beat my previous PR by almost 7 minutes.

I liked the course. It was nice and flat. I enjoyed running through the Ottawa Hills neighborhood and on the Metroparks paths. I'm thinking that Glass City will be the first marathon I run in 2012.