Halfway

My marathon training is on schedule. Today I ran in my first race ever, a half-marathon around Lake Minnetonka from Wayzata to Excelsior. My longest previous run was 12 miles (only once).

My goal going in was to break 2:05, although I set that goal with the assumption that we would have semi-decent weather. As it turned out, the temperature throughout the race was in the mid-30s, the wind was between 15 and 20 mph, and it snowed for part of the race.

As I was waiting for the race to start, I ran into an old friend and veteran marathoner. When I told him what my goal was, he offered to run with me and, as it turned out, that was a big help. We finished unofficially in 2:03:21 based on my watch. The official time will be slightly higher because we were near the back of the pack of 1000 runners at the start, and all official times are based on the gun, not when you cross the start line.

Anyway, I'm satisfied. Now, I’m off to the hot tub.