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Yes, I was bitten by the running bug.  I think it really kicked in when I was watching the fatties on “The Biggest Loser” not only run a half marathon, but a full marathon no more than a month later.

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I always wanted to be a runner but could’nt imagine myself running more than 5 miles.  Well, like anything, if you practice enough and aren’t plagued by injuries, you can do almost anything.  Not too long after I started pushing myself to run further, my girlfriend Kris gave me a book called “Born to Run” which inspired me even more.  After reading the book we both quickly signed up for a 5K.  After completing that is when I signed myself up for the Hampton’s half marathon (sometime in May).

Training for this event was actually fun because (almost) each time I ran, I either ran further or the same distance became easier.  There’s nothing like the reward of seeing progress to keep you training harder.

Once you are able to run 6 miles, running on a treadmill is not an option.  I even went trail running to break up the monotony of the road.

My pedometer watch was crucial to my training and I felt naked without it, but I later learned during the race that it was dreadfully “Off”.  Pedometer watches base their distance on your stride…running and walking.  I tested my watch on a treadmill only while running at 5.5 mph.  I noticed that if I ran at 6mph it was accurate up to a mile, but any distance beyond that and it started to show a higher milage than the distance I was running.  At 5.5 mph, it was right on.  I never thought that I would be dragging ass and running at about 5mph during the race and by the time I got to the finish line, my watch was was ahead by two miles.  (at the end of 13.1 miles, it read 15.1 miles).  It kind of messed me up because I though I was on a 10 minute mile pace and when I found out how off it was, I really started dragging ass.

The course was nice enough.  It was a little “hill-y-er” than i would have thought and there was a 2 mile dirt road stretch that seemed odd, given that there could have been more ocean front running involved.

I thought I was supposed to run through the yellow tape, but apparently some of the FULL MARATHON runners were finishing at the same time I was finishing the half marathon

I wasn’t too upset with my time even though I have been training with what I thought was a consistent 10 minute mile.  What really pissed me off was seeing that a 72 year old man finished 5 minutes before me.  WTF??

I want to thank my pit crew of one…Kristen, for getting me there on time, moral support and delicious lemon squares.

and also a special thanks to Jim Thomas (my coworker) and Anne Lynn (SIL) for all their inspiration.

Ann….I’ll see you at the Boilermaker in Rome in July…..and next years goal???……..a full marathon!!!!