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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Hyannis Half Marathon

This morning I ran the Hyannis Half Marathon. I did not officially sign up for this race and only decided on Friday afternoon with the coaching from Donna McAllister to run it. All week long I was under the impression that I had a charity run on Saturday morning. On Wednesday or Thursday, I realized I had no group scheduled and really didn't even know how long I wanted to run.

Anyway, the half was glorious!

The Cape ocean view was beautiful. The crowds, spectators, and fellow runners were cheerful and encouraging. The weather was perfect, about 43 degrees, with the sun peaking through the clouds every once in awhile, and the race ended with raindrops. They held off for the whole race though.

Finish Line

This was my first race that I have ever done solo, arrived and run solo. I stood at the starting line amongst strangers, but we all smiled, feeling the same anxious waiting feeling, knowing that we share a common goal for the day. The miles seem to fly by during races... maybe because of the crowd or the scenery, but the last two miles came up before I knew it. For the half marathon race distance, I crank it for the last two miles. In a slight lull of cranking, a loud little runner said, "Who wants to break 1:50?" I stepped up and ran with him, then he dropped out claiming that he was cramping. I finished really strong under 1:50. I wish I had signed up for the race. I love to have official times! Oh well, I'm $40 richer and closer to my final Boston goal!

Race Course



After the race, I met up with Meg Bannon, Adele Dockendorff and Megan Judge for lunch on my return voyage to Central Mass. We ate a lovely lunch at a cute Cape Cod lunch cafe. Meg asked if I won the race, I replied yes and then she was apparently really disappointed when I retracted the statement with admission of joking! I LOVE that all my friends think I can win races against thousands of other runners. It's fun to be superwoman in the eyes of others, and on top of it, Meg is famous so it means more coming from her!

A quick note, please donate to my marathon charity. Visit

My donation page. As I ran the last 2 miles of the Hyannis race, my legs were hurting. There is now no doubt in my mind that running the Boston marathon will be painful, but it will alll be worth it if I can reach my $5000 goal. Please help me get there!

1 comment:

Joe said...

congrats on the half marathon! i was maybe thinking of doing it next year..maybe we can do it together?