Ben Jones, Just Doing It.

And just like that 12 weeks of training and in a matter of 24 hours it all pays off. The weekend began on Friday with a trek down to Virginia Beach where the weekend's festivities would begin. The alarm went off at 6:40 on Saturday morning. A bowl of oatmeal, a banana, and a glass of Gatorade before we hopped into the car and headed to the oceanfront. The 8K began at 8:00 am and 44:41:90 later the first leg of the Dolphin Challenge was complete. We repeated the same drill on Sunday but an hour earlier. The half marathon started at 7:00 am on a cold, wet morning. The furthest I had run during training was 9.25, but I figured with the adrenaline and the atmosphere, I'd have no problem getting through the last four miles. There were water/Gatorade stops about ever other mile and then at mile 10 there was a gel stop. After taking one, I felt a second wind at about mile 11 and pushed myself through the end. As my first half marathon, I didn't really know what to expect, especially after an 8K the day before. Before I started I had 2:00:00 in my head as a target time. In the end it was 2:00:21. I am very pleased and will work to beat these times next time.

The first leg of the Dolphin Challenge has been completed. In today's 8K I completed it in 44:41 (9:00 pace). It was a bit slower than I expected and wanted, but considering there is still a half marathon tomorrow, I guess it is good. I did feel much better than last year, but I chalk that up to better training and the fact that the whole time today, I thought about tomorrow's race.