I am so happy I finally completed my first half marathon! This is a distance that has eluded and terrified me for the past 5 years (at least)! I can honestly say I would never have been able to do it without my amazing training partner, Mugsy!

Not only is she a great friend but a great training partner as well. Thanks Mugs!

The race started at 8:30 am, right on time. This was great because it was warm already and already getting warmer. This race was not flat but we knew that in advance because we drove the course the day before.

The difficult part about training for a longer race in New England in the spring is that you never know what the weather will be like. On all of our training runs, the weather was either cold and sunny or cool and cloudy. This was GREAT running weather. The day of the race was warm and sunny. Yikes…not prepared for that.

The golden rule is not to do anything new on race day so I wore the capri pants I did most of my long runs in. Not ideal for 70 degree, sunny weather. I was HOT from the start. Lesson learned – even if its 50 degrees, train in shorts on a few runs!

I did not run as fast or feel as awesome as I would have liked and I slightly started to beat myself up over it but then I realized…this is my FIRST half marathon. FIRST as is I have many more to races in my future to learn from my mistakes in this one and fix them in future.

I ended up finishing in 2:16:10 with  an overall race pace of 10:23 min/mile. Not my fastest but it was a new PDR for me! That’s a win in itself! Another win…the views! This race was beautiful!

We started running down the causeway and past the famous Gloucester Fishermen’s Memorial. Full disclosure – I took these pictures post race. I haven’t quite mastered the taking pictures will running 13.1 miles thing yet. I also felt super touristy taking these pictures in my own backyard. Oh well!

Having ocean views for most of the race was a huge plus for me. If I wasn’t a human I would absolutely be a mermaid.

This view doesn’t suck…

And neither does this…

Overall I am happy that I can check this race distance off my bucket list. I hope to run another soon (maybe in the fall) and I now have a time to beat!