Mayflower Brewery 1/2 Marathon

I was SO excited for this race for so many reasons.

1)  My good friend Sarah signed up to run with me and it was going to be not only her first half marathon, but her first race EVER!

2)  It was my second 1/2 of the year and I was ready to cruise!

3)  I ran a 10K in Plymouth, MA a few years ago and although it was hilly, it was super fun

4)  More free beer ;)

Leading up to this race, maybe I didn't train quite as hard as I could have, but I was feeling good, coming off of a great month of May races.  The Saturday before, Sarah and I ran together along the Cape Cod canal, a 10-mile, moderate paced run to see how we matched with each other.  It went great!  I was so ready.

After that 10-miler, I was feeling some knee pain that I wasn't a fan of, so I took it easy the week leading up and tapered even more than normal, which may have been my first mistake.

The morning of the race was awesome.  It was perfect weather starting out, with a promising outlook for the morning.

The first few miles were as expected, and it took a while to find a good stride.  There was a significant part of the course that ran along a packed dirt bike path, which I was not prepared for.  There were large divots and loose rocks that were difficult to see until you were right on top of them due to the amount of runners packed in on the course.

Also, it felt like the ENTIRE course was uphill.  I know it's all perception... but I can tell you that this was the most difficult course I have ever completed, aside from Tough Mudder... which was on a mountain.

One great aspect that I will applaud the race coordinators for was the water every mile.  I think that if it were not for that, there would have been some serious issues for people along the course.  It got hot FAST that morning and as someone who does not normally take cups from water stops, I took at least one cup every single mile.

All in all, it was certainly the most difficult race that I can remember completing in a long time.  Although it was torturous at times, I am certainly thankful for the experience because after reaching PR's in so many consecutive races, it was refreshing to have me knock me down a peg and really have to work for it.  Now, I am not going to stop striving for PR's but I am proud that I was able to finish in the tough conditions.

I am SO proud of my girl Sarah, and I cannot wait until we run our next race together :)