A Wedding, a Run, and a Dead Bunny

Week 13 of training has come and gone. I'm in the final stretch before the marathon! 

I got in a run earlier in the week. It was good to get back out there after being sick the week before. 

On Friday I spent my day running around. I had to go to the mall to grab a few things for Saturday. From the mall I made my way to the Sea Crest Beach Hotel to get my bib for the Zooma Cape Cod Half Marathon. When I got there I heard "There's a dead bunny over there!" What an impression right? I didn't want to check out a poor dead bunny so I went inside to get my bib. After getting my bib I got a few necklace charms from Scott James Jewelry. 

From the Sea Crest I had to get over to Waverly Oaks Golf Club for my cousin's wedding.  It was a beautiful day for the wedding. After spending time with my family I knew I had to get back to Falmouth. Luckily my boyfriend is from there so we could stay at his parent's house which is right down the street from the Sea Crest.

I got up early on Saturday to make sure I wasn't rushing to make my 7:30 am start time. It was a little chilly in the morning, but not bad at all. I knew it was going to be a perfect day to run.

Perfect day for a run!

I secretly was hoping for a PR during this run. I also knew that over this year my running hasn't been great. I try to not beat myself up about this, but I do sometimes. I also knew that not running for the past week made it hard for me to assess where I truly was. So I was going into the race with the secret hope to PR, but being okay with whatever happened. 

Once the race started I had no idea where the 2:30 pacer was. I accepted early on that I wasn't going to see a 3 in my time. I was taking in the scenery while I ran and didn't worry about my time.

There were great views of the water throughout this run!

Not far from mile 3 there was a woman who had fallen/tripped/something. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but there were police & EMTs helping her. After I turned around at mile 3 she was being loaded into an ambulance. I hope she's okay. As I kept going I saw the 2:30 pacer. I put myself into the mindset that I had in Providence where I PR'd last year. I kept her just close enough that if I pushed myself I could catch up to her. Somehow I ended up in front of her! I stayed in front of her for a lot of the race. I didn't want to get too excited or jinx this. Eventually she did pass me again. I was feeling pretty tired the last 2.5-3 miles. I was so close to the end when I had to walk for a few seconds. Thankfully "Firework" by Katy Perry came on my phone and pushed me to the finish! I finished in 2:30:54. It may not be a PR, but it was so much better than the rest of my year has been. I'm proud of myself for that.

After the race I got a water, a banana, and my medal. I met up with my boyfriend and we walked down to the beach. I spent a little time standing in the ocean to help sooth sore spots and it felt great! After having a "ice bath" I signed up for the race next year! I'll come back in 2015 and maybe I'll great 2:30 again. Who knows but I am excited. 

Nature's "ice bath"

Swag

Right after the race I went back to my boyfriend's house to shower before running off to a fundraiser my sister was putting on for Children's Hospital. She did a wonderful job and we can't wait to do it again next year. With all of the food and over 90 raffles everyone had a great time!

Speaking of Children's Hospital, I'm still fundraising for the NYC Marathon! (Did I mention it's 5 weeks away!) If you want to help a wonderful cause you can do so here!