Newburyport Half Marathon
This was such a great race! My first time running a race with music, which really helped, plus it was my ideal weather: cool and a bit misty. The course was beautiful, mid-fall in the rain, and very peaceful. There were a lot of parts that went right along the water and the views distracted from the hills. A good portion was a rewarding downhill and that felt fantastic.
It also felt great to beat my half marathon time from last year at the BAA half by about 5 minutes. This was especially surprising because I actually caught a cold right before! As I was going to sleep, my throat started to feel bad, and sure enough I woke up with the sniffles. I took some Advil and Zyrtec beforehand just to cut down on the symptoms, and that was good enough to clear things out for the two hours of running time. (Of course, once I got home, it hit me like a ton of bricks.)
Chris and Kara came with me as support/wheels and while I was running they picked me up this perfect little pumpkin.
Including some screenshots below of my splits from last year's half to this year's, some PR's, and my official results. I've never been a competitive runner even when I was running cross country and track in school, but it is satisfying to put a lot of time in and beat my PR's now and then.
