Whoo Hoo! 13.1 DONE!

What a great race this morning!  I gotta hand it to the Nike Town in Beverly Hills for putting on a fun, friendly Nike+ Women's Half Marathon event.

Women started assembling at the store around 7:15 in the cool October morning - slightly foggy, about 57 degrees. Sign-in was orderly and really friendly.  By the time everyone got underway at exactly 8:00 AM, spirit were high.  

All the nervousness just melted away as I took off at my usual held-back pace and the rest of the pack pulled away from me within minutes.  There I was, alone with the road for 13 miles.  And what a road it was, winding through some of the most beautiful real estate  in Beverly Hills.  It being early on Sunday morning there was very little traffic and it was possible to run down the middle of the broad Oak-lined streets without interruption.  There were lots of neighborhood runners too, simply out for their Sunday AM workout!

Around mile 5 I began catching up with the runners who had gone out too fast from the start and now found their pace slowing; passing them I once again had the run to myself.  After only 5 weeks of focused distance training and no speed work at all, I ended up putting in a decent pace - the best I'd had in distance above 6 miles in months - exactly 10"/mi - and I did it without any trouble.  Mr. Higdon, I am a believer!

Then, afterwards, Nike Town hosted an absolute catered FEAST with hot, delicious food and yes - a warm chocolate-filled croissant - the best reward!  

Yay!  The evil anti-racing spell is broken after 8 years and now I am ready to commit to the full marathon.  My running buddies and I have pledged to do LA in February and we're all ready to start 18 weeks of training.  So awesome!

It feels so great to meet this goal  - I'm ready for more!

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