Lost Dutchman 1/2 Marathon Update

Hi everyone! Yesterday Matt and I raced our first 1/2 marathon, the Lost Dutchman in Apache Junction, AZ. I was not feeling too great about the race to begin with. I didn't really cut down my miles for the week, which one would normally do, and I just had a really stressful, tiring week. My stomach was in knots the entire week as well. Not fun. Matt was a bit worried as well since he hadn't exactly been running very much.
But as all races go, Matt and I woke up Sunday morning excited to race. We were at the park by 5:15am. The race began at 7:30 and it was 41 degrees outside and windy. Yikes! I was wearing 4 shirts and 2 pairs of pants over my shorts.

The elevation chart online looked pretty good, and the race was described as "gentle, rolling hills". Ummm...yeah. I would say that this race was as hilly as the San Diego marathon. I was pretty shocked! That combined with the wind had me a bit worried. We started off pretty fast, 6:30 pace. There were 4 girls in front of me at this time. It was an out and back course and for the first 1/2 of the race I was shoulder to shoulder with a guy running way to fast for himself and groaning and grunting for the world to hear. Every time I would get ahead of him, he would run harder to pass me right away. Men. I was so annoyed and mentally, it was taking a toll on me. I finally got enough pick-up to really pass him at mile 7. I then reeled in the #4 girl who started out WAY ahead of me. I finished strong at 1:34:15. I am pretty proud of that time considering all that was against me! I ended up placing second in my age group and fourth overall woman. Here is the results page.
My pace was an avg. of 7:10 per mile, I really wanted a 1:30:00 1/2, but next time! :)
Matt found our friend Alissa towards the end and they ran in together! Alissa ended up being 6th in our age group and setting a new PR for herself! Woohoo! Check out her blog via the link to the right, she has a great race report and pics!