Race 22 of 40 - E.P.I.C. Half Marathon

Again, I had planned on running just the 21 races for the second quarter. More than half done; I was good. I also remember saying not too long ago that I didn't feel I was at a place where I could just run a half marathon on a whim. Well...not so fast, my friends.

After the YMCA run, I started reading about the E.P.I.C. Half Marathon. It's a great cause - all proceeds going to help inner city, at risk and special needs kids go to summer camps. I thought about for a bit, then saw that it was half price - $30 for a half marathon is a fantastic price!! And it was just up in Pontiac, so not too far from home. So...I decided, what the heck?! And signed up. As it turned out, Holly is training for the Chicago Marathon and needed to get 13 miles in that weekend. And Marcela is always up for a good run. So I strong-armed...er...encouraged them both to run with me. So we all signed up last minute and went into it with no time goal. We just wanted to finish and have fun. And we did!!

The course started and ended at the Pontiac Silverdome. Which, honestly, is looking a little sad these days. But I'm not ABOUT to get into that on this blog. And the course was SUPER hilly. Easily much more hilly than the Kona Run. (Just look at the elevation chart!) But, again, we didn't have a time goal, so we just kept it slow and easy. We just chatted and had fun. I normally train alone, so running with others is always fun. The hills though...yikes. I need to do more training on hills. 

Now, this was the first year for this race. In fact, this was the first half marathon EVER to be fun in the City of Pontiac! And you just really never know what to expect the first year of a race. But I was not disappointed. They were well organized, had a lot of water stops (one every mile) and they even had medals for finishers. For $30 registration, I wasn't expecting a medal. And the shirt was nice too. I haven't actually received a medal yet - they ran out and are ordering more. But I'll post a picture just as soon as it gets here.

I can't leave out Nicole - a friend from high school who has gotten the 5k bug (I take partial responsibility) and ran the 5k for this race. She's running her first 10k in October! I'm so excited when I see people in the beginning stages of addiction. I'm OK with being referred to as a crack dealer. ;-)

So that's it for the second quarter - 12 races in 3 months - 22 total for 2013. Second quarter summary coming right up.

Next up - a VERY full July! 5k tomorrow - back to Ann Arbor for the Firecracker 5k. Then 10Ks on July 13th & 20th. Then Warrior Dash on July 27th. And training for the Free Press half marathon is starting up as well. My goal time for that is 2:15-2:20. So I have some work to do. :-)