15 km

I didn't feel anxious about this race, in fact I slept in.  Within minutes of pulling on my race clothes I was out the door.  I drank a protein smoothie in the car while I fastened the chip to my shoe (I didn't get to have a coffee--totally my own fault).  It's not really the way I like to do things, but it did mean I didn't have time to get stressed out.  I ran from the car to the starting line-up.

The morning was beautiful.  In my rush I had forgotten my hat but realized in time to get my husband to bring it to the halfway point (it was great to see them there).  I felt good.  One of my hips has been bothering me, but it's more like tightness than pain and it seems to warm up just fine.  I drank water at every water stop and I thought a lot about breathing and smiling and looking around.  I felt strangely calm.
My mantra was, "there's still a long way to go."  Which was good because I did not kill myself but I was disappointed with my time (1:41).  I came in with energy left over, that's it? I thought as I saw the finish line ahead. I needed to push harder in the second half--I had it in me to do better.  This is something I need to figure out.  I fear over doing it, but now it seems like I'm under doing it.  In a month I'll run a half marathon, my goal is a time of 2:15 (I would be happy with 2:20)--I'm going to have to step it up a bit to do that.