I did it!!!!! I completed my first half marathon on Sunday May 18, 2014! It was soooo amazing!!!

I couldn’t resist getting a little Olympic-esque
The energy was fantastic and allowed us to push and knock some time off our projected finish time. Brandy and i finished at 2:59:16, no where near record setting but it meant the world to us to make it in less than 3 hours.
We ran the Portland Rock n Roll half marathon. I am now totally in love with the Rock n Roll series. They have some great bands playing, an awesome amount of refueling stations, a very reasonable time limit for the course, and some good swag 🙂

Race t-shirt

Awesome finishers medal!!!
I think we were able to push because we were prepared. We followed a great program and trained right. I think I have mentioned Tom Holland before and his book, The Marathon Method, that is what we used. His book got us to the start line, and finish line, injury free and still loving to run. When I start training for a Triathlon i’ll be buying his 16-week triathlete book.
I am not going to give you all the info because it is not my info to give, but i will give you the highlights. This book gives you everything you could possibly need to know about running and doing it safely. Tom Holland is very big about under training instead of over training. Over training is how you get hurt. I will tell you that we never ran a 13 mile run before the half marathon. Our longest run was 11 miles. The majority of our runs were 3-5 miles. On his training schedule you do 2-3 short runs a week and one long run. I think it is the best training method so you don’t get hurt or burned out.
He talks about stretching, strength training, refueling, carb-loading, salt, etc.
If you have the desire to ever do distance running i highly suggest that you buy his book.

pre-race dorkiness
I can’t believe that my first half marathon is behind me now 🙂 The Portland course is pretty nice, you go all over the city, there was one semi-bad hill because it was a slow long climb but the elevation gain wasn’t too bad. There were some local cheer teams along the course at different places, that really helped when you were getting tired. They were great about making sure you had MORE THAN ENOUGH to refuel yourself.
The finisher’s festival was a little unorganized i thought but it was still great fun, though i admit i was exhausted and dazed by that point hahahaha. If over 21 you got a free Michelob Ultra beer at the festival. For $20 i got my name and finishing time engraved on my medal right then and there which i really appreciated.
They used Marathonfoto all along the course, so there were photographers everywhere and they get some great shots of you. I did order a little collage, come on its my first half marathon, i have to commemorate it. 🙂

Brandy and I about 4-5 miles in going over the bridge!!!
All in all it was a GREAT first half marathon experience and i will definitely be participating in more Rock n Roll events.
Now its just 9 days to Rugged Maniac!!!
Do you have any races planned?
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