Martha's Vineyard 1/2 Marathon

Crossing the finish line.....

Happy Monday Morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I sure did. I went to one of my favorite places this weekend....Martha's Vineyard. All girls weekend...my sister Trish, my daughter Chloe and her BFF Laila. My sister in law and brother in law live there with their 4 children. My bro-in Law Jack owns a landscaping company on MV called Contemporary Landscaping. We stayed with them in their ginormous house. So fun.

A few months ago one of my clients told me about the 1/2 marathon on MV on 5/21/17. She inspired me so I decided to sign up too. We rode bikes all weekend, went out to lunch, out to dinner, hung out with Jack, Kim and the kids, had a few margaritas! Sunday morning was the race. Such a beautiful run!  If you know the Vineyard here is the course....The Half Marathon started at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School and runs the first 2 miles with the marathon and a total of 3 miles through the middle of DCR Manuel Correllus State Forest and pass the airport.  Then left on Edgartown road on the paved bike path for 5 miles.  Then left again, along Beach Road over the famous "JAWS" bridge with a finish in beautiful Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs.

I ended up winning for my age group!! I am soooo excited!! My goal on Sunday was to run the best run for me on that day, not to pressure myself and to enjoy the scenery. I start off in wave #1...the fast runners. I ran the first mile in 7:08, I am really good at pacing myself (I credit CrossFit to this) so I did not let myself run slower than a 7:25 min mile. My hamstrings have been extremely tight so they were "talking" to me the entire race and the bottoms of me feet were burning b/c of my new sneakers but I blocked it out and sucked it up. lol. There was one woman far enough ahead of me that I could see her but never thought I would pass her. I could tell we were around the same age. I knew if I passed her I would have a chance of winning for my age group. I got inside my head and said to myself what Ben Bergeron always says..."Pain is NOT a workout, pain is losing a loved one or stepping on a nail, a workout is ONLY uncomfortable." Thinking about this gave me more energy and suddenly I did not feel the burning in my hamstrings or my feet. I ended up flying by her and winning the race for my age group. Needless to say, I am thrilled!