IT hurts!

Sunday was the perfect weather for a race. I think it got up to around 55 degrees, but we started the morning at a very chilly 45 degrees, very little humidity, and a nice stiff breeze. The Motive Bison Stampede half marathon is a wonderful race with many challanging hills. I like to run hills because it uses muscles that I don't ordinarily use on my runs, and it seems that the hills give me a little kick of energy. The race went well, at least until the 8th mile, where I became aware of some pain in my right knee. I ignored it for a few miles because to acknowledge it means it's real. At mile 10 I complained about it but continued at our current pace. At mile 11.5 I started to slow down slightly. I encouraged Brian to go ahead and keep up with Jen and I'd meet him at the finish, but he wouldn't leave me. The last mile felt like the longest mile of my life. The IT band in my right leg was hurting so bad that I could barely run. And of course, when you're in pain you tend to compensate with the other leg so eventually my left hip started to feel bad, too. Brian and I crossed the finish line in 2:02:41, which is actually more than 10 minutes faster than I did the race last year. I'm happy about my finish time, though I secretly wished I could have broken 2 hours.

A big contratulations goes out to Jen, though. She did break 2 hours! WAY TO GO JEN!

After the race I iced me knee and relaxed for a while before we headed to the mall and to pick up some things for thanksgiving. The rest of the day was spent watching telly and eating bailey's sugar cookies. MMMMMM!