North Olympic Discovery Half marathon 2012 recap

Alright 2nd half marathon of this year is completed! :) 2 down 3 more to go! So heres the recap of the race!.
This is my second time doing this race. Last year I ran this for the first time, first time ever for a half. last year I had a knee brace and wore Nike shoes. (Thanks Nike for giving me knee problems.) But after running since then I found the right shoes, and no more problems! :) anyway last year I ran this race at 2:15:30. So going into this race I had the mind set of beating that time from last year. Which I knew i could but didn't know by how much I could. I ran a few half's since then coming under or just at 2 hrs. So leading up to this race I didn't train much. I trained more for the cinco de mayo then this one. I just didn't have the time to train that well (thanks work) anyway at least I had a 8 mile run in before this race. Anyways everything was ready, hotel booked, time off work, and packed.
So I worked Saturday and was able to get off early :) and went home and made sure everything was packed, (you know make sure i have my shoes and such) And we were off to port Angeles around 2. We stopped for Paul at Starbucks to get coffee for his two hour drive. (thanks for driving :) ) well i thought i would take a nap on the way up, but he almost ran a red light so i wasn't tired after that moment.
We got there around 4:15 and went to expo to get my race packet! The expo wasn't great, so we left quickly. Checked in to the hotel and drove around town to explore. And then it was time for dinner, I wanted carbs...so IHOP it was! and what a better way to carb load is breakfast! :) And then went back to the hotel to rest. Saw an amazing sunset and then went to bed.

sunset

The alarm went off at 6 but i didn't get out of bed until 630 and got ready, and by 8:30a i was at the start line.

On this trail there were hills that i walked up last year that I ran all the way up without stopping!! :) And I forgot how beautiful this trail was and how many different smells you come encounter with. EX: farm lands, to river, to poop station and sea water.

before race

9am race started and I was off to run this course once again. I was running at a good speed, according to my iphone the first few miles i was under 9min, probably around 8:40 pace. Anyway paul was there taking pictures :)

around 1.5 miles

I would hate to run in these the whole time

So mile 1- was down this farm road and does this turn around point to the discovery trail.

mile 2-3?

This is where I saw paul and started to grab the pack of gel to be opened

around mile 6 I wanted my gel chumps but couldn't open the freaking thing so i kept going and was super happy to see Paul and that's where I had him open the packet for me, but he was having a hard time opening it too. So i finally had my gel at around mile 7. Around mile 8-9 i think i saw Paul again for the last time before the finish line. I still had my good pace going until i couldn't open the pack then i think i was getting tired and slowed down a bit. I reached mile 10 and started to struggle but kept going. Around mile 11-12 my ipod told me where i was at in the time, around 1:42 and i thought to myself, I can do this I can possibly make it under or just at 2 hrs. So around mile 11.5-12 I picked my speed up and that last mile was a struggle but i knew I was almost finished and gotta keep going to beat the time from last year. There was few guys around me but i kept pushing my self ahead of them. This one guy near the end I looked over and thought " I will beat you..: So as soon as I was getting closer to the finish line i picked up my speed again. I saw the time clock at 2 and it just turned to 2:01, so i sprinted and crossed at 2:01:09. Walked around grabbed food, and my medal and found Paul.

last photo opt for 4-6miles

finish line

completed race :)

And off we were back home. I'm not going to lie my legs are sore as i type this!

But This morning I checked the official results!... Drum roll please.....

results:

total 233/1004 runners
total females 104/735 :)
age 20-24 females i placed 7th!
pace of 9:10
gun time : 2:01:09
net time: 1:59:58
WHOO under 2 hours!! one happy girl right now.
second half under 2!