The Waterson Family: Lexington's Run the Bluegrass Half-Marathon

I ran this race last year as part of the Kentucky Half Classic. If you run Lexington's half as well as the Derby Half, you get a 3rd medal if you sign up and finish both races, and you get added perks as well such as special use of porta-pots...woohoo (which by the way I never found)!

This race is no joke. It is straight up and down hills the whole way. It's definitely a very challenging race, but also extremely beautiful since you run by several horse farms. I was definitely feeling nervous about this race.

On Friday (4/2/16), my mom and I headed to Lexington after working. She went with me last year so it was great that she wanted to go with me again. We headed straight for the Expo and got my race packet. I love Lexington's race bibs because they put your name on them...that way when you're dying at the end, people can encourage you and use your name! After the expo, we went out to eat. I didn't really focus on eating anything specific which is a good thing, because I ended up ordering this:

It was absolutely delicious...I love a good burger! I don't usually recommend ordering such a large meal before a race, but it actually agreed with me, thank goodness! After dinner, we headed to our hotel room. I was actually pretty tired and fell asleep a little after 10. The race started later than I'm used to..9:00. So I got up around 7 and ate breakfast and got ready. My mom snapped this pic of me before we left the hotel room:

The "5" stands for my 5th half marathon!

On our way there, we got stuck in some traffic and my nerves started to get to me. I just wanted to make sure I had time to pee before the race started. Luckily we got there in plenty of time...in fact, the race ended up being delayed 10 minutes because of a wreck and they wanted to make sure all the runners could get there. In addition to the half-marathon, there was also a 5k and 7-miler. I was in the second wave of runners and parked myself by the 2:00 pacers. I knew I wanted to finish under 2 hrs so I figured as long as I stayed ahead of them, I'd be good. I wasn't worried too much about my time since this race is so intense. Anyways, after what seemed like forever, the race started. Even though I did this race last year, I forgot about how hard it was. I felt like I was crawling up those hills. I'm dead serious when I say that you go up and down the WHOLE way. It was not only physically challenging, but mentally as well.

I always try to smile when I see the camera, no matter how much pain I'm in...who wants a pic of grimaces and pain?!

I can't tell you how many times I was negotiating with myself to just walk. But, I didn't...I kept plugging along. I was so excited to see the finish line when it was over.

I love this pic...just wish it was focused on me! My mom was right where I was looking so I was making faces for her (see the above picture)

Imagine my surprise when I crossed the finish line and met up with my mom and she told me that I had just set a new PR for my half-marathon! 1:55:35! I couldn't believe it...and still don't. I seriously felt like I was crawling up those hills and barely moving!

I grabbed a free beer...hey, why not?! And then mom and I took some quick pics: