A breath of fresh air

Nice and easy.

Again nice and easy.

Will and I made it without incident to Columbus.  We had help from a lot of friendly people in the airport.  Tonight I ran four miles with my brothers, Greg and Allen.  I loved it.  Greg asked Allen to name his top five chapters in the Book of Mormon to share with investigators.  I enjoyed listening to them discuss which chapters were there favorite to share--3 Nephi 11, 3 Nephi 27, Alma 7, and Jacob 4.  (Allen just returned from his mission in Brazil.  While I was in Columbus, I was also able to attend Allen's homecoming.)  Greg also asked what the top five reasons people gave for not wanting to listen to a gospel message.  Allen said most people would answer the door and when they'd hear that the missionaries wanted to share a message of Jesus Christ, their disposition would change.  The people would then say "I am in the middle of cooking dinner" or "I am giving my baby a bath" or "I was just on my way out"-- they'd be in a bath robe and it would be noon.  I asked him about his top favorite meals.  Number one was rice and beans.

Things I thought I did well...

1) I warmed up.  During the mile and a half, I found a gas station.  I was able to use its restroom and avoid all the port-a-potty lines.

2) I enjoyed the race.  I especially loved being a part of the race with my brother.  I was able to find him and jog the last couple miles with him.  I am so proud of him.  It was his first half.  He blew away his predicted time by 23 minutes and was able to walk the next day.

3)  I ran twelve miles in my target range 8:00 to 8:30.  The first mile was 9:06.  My average pace was 8:12!

The thing I thought I didn't do well...

I didn't warm up early enough before the race.  When I got back from the warm up, the starting line was packed!  I ended up starting with the 13 plus group.  The good part about it was I started with my brother.  They bad part about it was it took almost four minutes to cross the starting line.  The race time I put on my race report was my chip time.  The clock time was 1:51:01.  I don't know what my race/age division place is because I am a twenty-five year old male instead of being a twenty-eight year old female.

Overall, I am very excited about my performance.  I mean--WOW!  A gold star/medal performance and a major PR!

By the way, I don't know what my race/age division place is because I ended up being registered as a twenty-five year old male instead of being a twenty-eight year old female.  I am sure I could figure it out, but I'd rather do other things.  Like update my running blog--only two more entries to go.

Another side note, my hip bothered me starting about mile six, but it wasn't anything I haven't run with before. 

My brother and I before the race.  Do I look nervous?

Check out our picture after the race.  http://www.runphotos.com/  You have to enter my bib number and make sure you select the Capital City Half Marathon.