Hey gang! I'm re- posting my race report here as well as the racing thread in the forums. Well I am SUPER PSYCHED!!!! Today was my second ever half marathon and I KICKED it!! A quick reminder to those who may not recall, I quit smoking in Aug. 07, I was 214 lbs. on Jan. 07, and I turned 40 in Nov.07. I'm now 176 lbs, definatly an ex-smoker, and still 40 . I ran my 1st half in Feb. 08. It rained ,it snowed, my feet hurt and I came in at 2:22. On to today: I was feeling awesome this week. Ran some good mileage and was pumped for this race. Yesterday at work lifted something I probably shouldn't have and really tweaked my back! My thanks to my chiropractor for taking me in yesterday. Last night it was killing me! This morning I did have serious thoughts of bailing out of the race. Aside from the back pain I was feeling good though, so I raced. Miles 1&2 were a little rough, and ironically it wasn't my back that hurt but my shins right down low at the ankles. Then all of a sudden BAM! I just took off. I settled into a nice rythym and just cranked. Mile 4 took on a little protein in the form of a black fly My splits were looking good though, I was running under a ten minute pace. Miles 6-11 turned hilly. Man if I wasn't running uphill, I was going down. But I didn't let up, nice and steady. 11-13 I picked up the pace a bit, quads starting to really burn now. The last tenth of a mile I can see the finish line so i poured it on. Net time finish:2:00:17!!! I'm ecstatic!! Elated! And, surprisingly, feel pretty good to boot!! Added note: DW also ran and finished 2:12.

Thanks Jen.