a PR story: 2011 diva half-marathon.

i signed up for the diva half marathon way back when instead of signing up for grete's great gallup half-marathon in central park the same weekend.  why? many reasons:

• i've run grete's two years in a row.
• grete's is twice around central park.
• i ran three times around central park in the evil direction the weekend before.
• the diva half is near my parents. cue good food and a personal cheering section.
• the diva half is pretty much flat in comparison to central park.
• they give you a boa and a tiara at mile 12.  a tiara? sign me up.  i'm still waiting for some long lost grandma to show up and tell me i'm a princess in some country i've never heard of.  let's go grandma, i'm waiting.

sunday morning, it was pitch black when i woke up (obviously. why would i choose an activity that allows me to wake up with the sun?).  anywho, i quickly got ready and out the door with the 'rents with more than enough time to stand around in eisenhower park with 5,000 or so other women. i stood at the beginning of the "10-11 min/mile" corral.  even as the race started, i had no idea if i was going to race this run or use it as a training run (for those who don't know, you train slower than you race).  by mile 2, i knew i was racing.  and i knew i was going to PR.  

me to mama b-rocks, mile 2: "2:11. i'm calling it now."

a 2:11 would've given me about a 30 second PR.  i'd run the first mile at a 10:02 and the second mile at a 9:58.  my best half-marathon (2:11:27) was run at a 10:02 min/mile pace.  with my first two miles where they were, i knew i could easily knock 30 overall seconds off my time.  this put a big pep in my step and i found myself focusing on that PR.  it's all i could think about.  i thought about how good it'd feel to cross the finish line.  i thought about how exciting it was going to be to tell my boyfriend, friends, family, and coaches.  that goal kept my legs moving and my mind in the right place.

i knew i'd easily hit 2:11.. but around mile 7 or so, with a bunch of 9:45s and 9:50s behind me, i knew i could easily do 2:10 or, dare i think it, 2:09. 

right before mile 12, i started to see a bunch of ladies circling around with their hot pink boas and tiaras.  i got all excited because, well, that was one of the reasons i signed up for this race.  also, mile 12 means i'm almost done - which is awesome.

mile 12 was rough.  i picked up my pace just a little, wanting to really finish strong.  weaving through the eisenhower golf course is not exciting and there is literally no one around but runners until you are practically at the finish line.  luckily, i knew my parents would be there and that i'd be able to hear my mother from roughly 400m away.  

once i saw the finish, i picked it up even more, gave my screaming mother two thumbs up, and crossed the finish feeling like a rockstar.  or a princess?

official time- 2:08:30 (9:48 min/mile).  yea i know, it's completely badass.  

i walked over to where they had half-naked sexy firemen putting medals over the finishers.  when i first saw this, my thoughts went as followed: why doesn't that guy have a shirt on? ooo he has a lot of abs.  firepants! medals! sure, you can put that over my head. you have even more abs up close. best-race-ever.

also, there was champagne after the firemen.  who wants to stand at the end of the nyc marathon with some champagne?  anyone?  it'd be much appreciated. 

there you have it folks: my half-marathon PR and my confidence booster for november 6. bring it nyc marathon, i'm coming for YOU.