Tom King Half Marathon

Me and Jessika

Me and Michele

Well, today I set a new P.R. of 2:03:11. The results can be found here. (I'm in the 30-34 age group)My previous half time was 2:12:15 (Country Music Marathon 2006) and last years Tom King was 2:20:6. I am pretty happy with my time time today because No.1-I was shooting for a 2:10 and No.2-An under 2:00 CMM next month will be a piece of cake. I ALWAYS do better at the CMM than I do at the Tom King, and I don't know why because Tom King is flat...and CMM is hilly. I'll kick my training into high gear for the next 4 weeks...I can do it. My friend Nathan is planning to run the CMM this year and I was hoping he'd run it with me, but at the rate I'm going, I don't think he'll be able to. He's shooting for a 2:20/2:30 range.

The staring temp was around 30F. Perfect running weather, but we were FREEZING before the gun went off. I was comfy by .5 mile though. I was wearing a pace bracelet set for a 2:10:00 and it said I needed a 9:55 mile. Mile one was around 8:30. And it continued to be like that the whole race. I stoped and stretched once and walked some in the 2nd half of the race so those miles were slower, but none of them were 9:55. they were all lower.

I lost Jessika at around mile 5, and saw her again passing me after the turn-around. (It's an out-and-back race) She finished in 1:55 something. Go Jessika! Of course today's race was considered a "light training day" for her considering the fact she's doing the Full Marathon in April.

There was beer all along the race route which made this an even better event for me. I am not a fan of this race..it's boring and there are no spectators along the route. But if they serve beer again next year I won't dread it as much. I drank beer 3:1(they also had h2o and gaterade of course) I think the beer gave me an edge and knocked off some of the pain. Had I not drank the beer, my time would have been much slower. (Hehe)

The race finished in LP Field (where the Titans play) with the announcer saying my name and my half dead body up on the JumboTron screen thingy. Then I got the CUTEST little shamrock medal when I crossed the finish line. I have a collection of Tom King medals and they are the same every year. But this year they changed it. Sweet!

They also changed the post race grub. This year they served breakfast instead of lunch. It was good. Overall I would have to say this was my favorite Tom King, and I am glad I ended up doing it. I even got to meet Michelle..one of my fellow Bloggers. She is a really cool chick and hopefully I'll see her again soon!