We took a weekend away to spend time with our friends & family in Reno. Mo has been dying to go back there since our August trip. He picked Reece up from school on Thursday at 3:30 and started the 7 hr road trip to Reno. Mo is super dad, driving 7 hours with 2 tired kiddos in the truck. I called often to check on them and all seemed well. He said they passed out and slept the last five hours of the trip. I was a nervous wreck the whole time they were travelling. Friday they played all day long and had a ball with the Brewer clan. I slept in, watched silly TV and wandered aimlessly around a department store without children in tow. My neighbor Carol and I headed to Lake Mead to pick up our race packet. I joined Carol for a delicious pasta meal and then headed home to do laundry and pack for my trip to Reno.
Saturday morning I woke at 5:15 am, made coffee and toast and prepared for my 2nd half marathon. I was nervous and excited at the same time! Carol came over and we drove out to Lake Mead. It was a nice relaxing 45 minute drive. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was fantastic! The weather was perfect for the race. The race didn't start until 8 am; it was so exciting and pretty. My neighbor Carol and I had been training for months for this day. I was hoping to beat my 2:10 time from San Diego but was having a bad tummy ache so I wasn't sure if that would happen. There were a ton of hills to over come as well. Carol and I started off together and had a nice pace going, then I had to pee. Yikes, I stopped and she went ahead. I eventually caught up to her just before the silly switch back part of the course. We saw the Hoover Damn and turned around to finish the second half of the race. My knees were killing me and I just wanted to get finished. I ran ahead of Carol and kept my eyes on the lake. It was so beautiful and scenic. I kept pushing myself to make it to the next person ahead of me. It was very motivating and I started to really push it to finish under 2:10. The last 2 miles of the run were up hill and really sucked! I was so tired and had very little energy left in me. I crossed the finish line in 2:26, bummed I was 10 minutes slower but so glad I did it; 13.1 miles is nothing now ;)
Carol came in 10 minutes after me and we headed to eat, the food wasn't that great so we drove home. I needed to get a shower and catch a plane. Julie swung by my house at 12:00 and took me to the airport. I grabbed a slice of pizza and waited for my plane. I was so tired I slept the whole hour and ten minutes to Reno.
