What's this? A race report???

Shocking, I know. Pick your jaws off the ground because Irondiva is doing a few small races here and there this year.  I haven't totally thrown in the towel to my competitive bone!!!  :)

But I wasn't so much competitive this race as I was happy with how it went!

Here's the story...

So  few weeks ago, Tom and I decided that we were going to look for a fall half marathon.  I love fall half marathons.  There's just something about them that make me smile.  We run a mid-distance run of 10-14 every weekend so it's not really a huge change from a normal weekend, but I love the crisp weather, everyone nervously chatting at the start, the bling at the end, etc.  We found the Allstate 13.1 Atlanta and decided to sign up.  Karen later told me that she had run it last year and really liked it.  That's the funny thing about Atlanta races... I know nothing about any of them, but can always find someone who has done it to get the inside scoop.  I figured it would be a fairly good size race based on the fact that they have them all over the US.  Perfect...

A week before the race, Karen was doing a giveaway on her blog for a free entry so I told Matt to enter, knowing that he's training for a marathon.  It fit in his schedule perfectly and as luck would have it, he won the entry!!!  So yay... I would have Karen and Matt there as well.  See... I already love racing in Atlanta!

Matt and I decided to run the race together since I've been slow and he's tapering for his big race, giving each other an out at any point if the other was going too fast (ha... that wouldn't have been me) or too slow.  I knew Tom would be a speed demon and I couldn't keep up with him.  I was just hoping to see Karen at the start and now am kicking myself for not setting up a meeting point with her because I never saw her. 

Sunday morning was beautiful - the perfect crisp day I had hoped for.  Tom and I were cozy in bed and I'm not going to lie... it was a little hard getting up at 5:30 to go run (especially since Tom stayed up to watch the Buckeyes put it to Nebraska the night before).  But I love this saying and it's what gets us going...

Matt and I lined up around the 2:00 mark.  I've been running fairly slow these days with the hills and whatnot.  I told Matt that I would like to be around 2:05.  He asked if I was good at pacing (ha... no) and asked if I was using a Garmin (again... nope... not my style).  He was so he could keep us on track.  We started out right on a 9:30 pace.  The first 3 or so miles were up and down, a little crowded, a little dark.  I couldn't really get into my groove.  But by mile 6, I was feeling great and we were consistently running right on pace.  All of a sudden I looked an we were at mile 9.  WHAT? :)  That's the awesome part about running with someone.  We talked about some great stuff - family, our values, reality tv (are you guys addicted to Breaking Amish like we both are???), racing, training, the future.  It was so great and made the miles just fly.  Before long, we were at mile 12, Tom had looped back to run to the finish with us.  Matt was feeling awesome and although I know he could have gone ahead, I think he played it smart with a marathon in two weeks (which he's going to rock... go wish him well here!)

Remember how I had hoped to run a 2:05, although I suck at pacing and wasn't wearing a Garmin?  We ended up crossing at like 2:05:34! :)  I would say that was perfect pacing!  Not close to a PR for me, and I loved it.  It was a fun race, I got to spend time getting to know Matt more, and I felt good the whole time.  And it was a GPR... a Georgia PR. :)

The race itself was great - amazing support, great course, music throughout the course, organized aid stations, a great finish line and pretty awesome bling!

If there's an Allstate 13.1 near you (LA, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and New York), I'd sign up.  You won't be disappointed!  But run it with a friend.  That'll make it even better!

This coming weekend, I'm racing again (gasp) at REV3 Anderson.  I can't wait to see my teammates and race another amazing Rev race!!!