Charlottesville Half Marathon

Saturday April 7, 2012 SM and I ran the Charlottesville Half Marathon.  The marathon began at 6:30 am and it was still dark and cold outside.  I pushed my shoulders down before the picture was taken so that I didn't look as cold as I really was.

Here is SM before the marathon.  We were both really excited and ready for this half marathon, though we knew it was going to be hard because of all the hills.  We drove as much of the course the night before to know what we were getting into, and it wasn't going to be easy.

We ran with friends from our ward.  Marcia and I ran together the whole way.  We didn't plan on running together but we just started together and kept going.  It was my first time running with someone and I really enjoyed it.

I took my camera with me on the half marathon and took this photo.  We were running through a small canyon and there were a few houses along the road.  This place had azaleas in bloom and I just wanted to share the beauty of the run with you all.

And here I am taking my own photo...and you can see Marcia right behind me.  I was hoping when I took the photo that Marcia would also be in the photo.

And here we all are at the end of the race!  SM beat his own personal record (PR) and did it in 1:39:38.  I was running just for fun but also broke my own PR with 2:04:53.  What a great race...of course, it was really a hard but I think that's one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much.  I definitely had a runners' high.

Here are our medals and bibs.

The running medal was designed in Ogden Utah and made in China.  Interesting, huh?!  I'm so glad to have the opportunity to have run this race with SM and our friends.  We had a great weekend in Charlottesville Virginia!