Birthday Half Marathon in Knoxville

A few months ago, I had this idea in my brain to sign up for a race of some sort. I had been running pretty regularly and when we were looking online at different races in the area, the Knoxville Half Marathon popped up and the date for it was ON my birthday! I felt like I couldn't pass up an opportunity to actually do a race ON my birthday so I signed up! Wasn't planning on getting a good time or anything, was just going for completion. Started training in February and by the time the race came around, I was ready! We stayed the night in Knoxville with Ryan and Marcy, (a good friend of Sam's from med school) and went out to dinner while their kids babysat our kids. We had so much fun! Thank you so much Ryan and Marcy!!

The next morning, Sam, the kids and I, headed downtown for the big day! It was a chilly 34 Degrees when the race first started at the World's Fair Park (the gold ball in the pic) and was in the mid 60's when I finished! It was such an awesome experience! There were SO many runners and the course was SO well supported! Tons people came out to watch and many neighborhoods had made signs all along the road for us! There were even a number of live bands playing in certain spots. Lots of aid stations and there were always people around me. I felt great and only walked on a couple of the harder uphills. But training in the country hills out east made me feel so prepared! The Knoxville hills didnt feel nearly as tough as the ones I trained on. The finish line was IN the Neyland Football stadium on UT campus! I had expected to try for a 10:45 pace but ended up with a 10:19 pace overall for a 2 hour 15 min finish time! Woo! I'd say that was pretty good for my first one! After the race, we headed to Market Street in downtown for a delicious breakfast together. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday! Thanks to my awesome husband for watching the kiddos and being SO supportive of all my training and the race day itself! Felt so good to know you were there cheering me on!