Amazing Love: Talladega Half-Marathon 2013

I DID IT! I SURPASSED MY GOAL OF BEATING MY TIME BY AN HOUR!

MY OFFICIAL TIME WAS 2 hours 10 minutes and 16 seconds!!!

Not that I expected to win, but it was a pleasant surprise to learn that I finished 14th out of 52 in my age group (25-29).

I am mighty proud, my friends. I have come a long way and am here to prove to everyone that with hard work and dedication, you can make things you once thought impossible....reality.

September 22, 2013. 2 hours 10 minutes

This was 2 1/2 years ago, doing the same course.

April 2011. 3 hours 13 minutes

My goal was to beat my previous time by an hour but I knew going into it that would mean that I would have to maintain a faster pace I had been running during our long runs. To be honest, I thought I would be finishing around 2h 30m.

We arrived at the Superspeedway at 6:30. It was cool. We were ready...well after I peed twice!

The horn blew, and we were off. Felt good. Jen and I stuck together until about mile 11. Our 1st mile was fast for us (8:41min/mile). We maintained a great pace. Around mile 5, my left knee started bothering me. Thankfully the pain went away after about a mile. Mile 7 was my slowest (10:24 min/mile). But we kicked it up and finished strong. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good overall. I wanted to walk several times, but I really didn't want to give up the great pace and for me to beat 2h 13m, I knew I had to keep up the good work. We would walk for about 15 seconds at a few of the water stations. Around the 11.5 mark, Jen picked up her pace. I tried, but my legs were going as fast as they could carry me. I told myself 'just don't stop, you're almost there'. I planned on sprinting once I saw the finish line...well it's kinda funny thinking about it now. I was telling myself... 'SPRINT, RUN HARD. FINISH STRONG. GO! Dang Megan, you can't go no faster?!?' My legs were wore-slap-OUT!

Unfortunately, Jacob had an OSHA training class that he could not miss. So he wasn't there today, but he called me twice during the race and gave me some sweet encouragement. He too was surprised and happy about the pace I was maintaining. He called as soon as the race was over too. I know he wanted to be there to cheer me on. I know he is proud of me.

Jamie and Jennifer did a great job!
Jamie finished 1h 43m. He maintained a 7:54 min/mile.
Jennifer finished in 2h 8m. Maintaining a 9:48 min/mile.
I finished 2h 10m. Maintaining 9:57 min/mile.