My goal race for the year was yesterday, however because im a dipshit i forgot to sign up for it and it sold out. So I signed up for the blue and gray half marathon in Fredricksburg VA a few days ago and was only $50.00! I packed up my girlfriend and the kids and made a 3 day weekend out of, it and we all had a blast, even went to the Smithsonian Air and space museum in Virginia to see the space shuttle and it was awesome! Picked up packet on Saturday afternoon at the running store and was no problem, was surprised to get a Nike dri fit long sleeve shirt with no advertising on the back, just small logo for race on the front. Sunday morning temps were in low 50s and 100% humidty type fog. Did a 2 mile warm up and a few strides, lined up and we were off. My original plan if all the stars aligned on a flat course (which I forgot to sign up for) was sub1:50. I really knew nothing about this course exccept that the description of it as kinda flat with 3 hills of about 40 feet (it's an out and back course so that would be 6 hills) and what they called hospital hill at the end with 200 feet gain. So with the fog and and being worried about the hills at the end I planned to keep pace between 8:20-8:30, which is about where I stayed for the most part (lost time twice when I had to stop and loosen up shoe because my Morton's neuroma was really flaring up). The course started out on some roads, then went down some steps (yes steps) to a trail along a river for a bit, back to roads and the on to some stone paths for a little around a college I think. Felt good for the most part the whole race but I was still worried about the "hospital hill" at the end so not pushing 100% yet. The miles flew bye, some times I was chatting away and other times I was in the zone ( and im one of them weird people who thank all the volunteers) before I knew it I was back at the steps (which means the last 2 miles were the hills) and they weren't bad at all, slowed down a little and passed people going up the hills and they weren't even that bad. Around a corner and did a half mile sprint to the finish with time of 1:53:39 and 220 out of 669 overall. I'm very happy with the results, was about a 5 minute PR from a flat half I did in September. I did the Ryan Hall half plan for this race and highly recomend it for anybody. I'd like to thank the the race people and all the volunteers who did a great job. Only problem I had was on the 4 hour drive home with sciatic nerve that was not very happy with me, but overall was a awesome weekend!

Great race -- congrats on the new PR! I've done the 5K twice but never the half, and wasn't able to do either this year. Hubby's a reenactor, so I spent most of my weekend in town attending the events. You should definitely come back for the Historic Half in May!