Progress

I am a grinning fool.

The two big events of the week:

1) On Thursday, we ordered our bamboo flooring (!)

Pushing the "Submit" button online was a lot harder than I thought. I kept putting off ordering the materials until finally, after staring at the two items in my cart for nearly a week, my fear of sacrificing some savings won out over my fear of committing to such a large purchase. Surprisingly, the simple act of pushing the button was harder than the daunting task of ripping up the carpet. Which, yes, we will begin today.

2) Yesterday, I ran a half marathon PR at 1:57:05 (!)

Under calm, sunny skies, our little running gang headed to the second annual Goldsboro Heart & Sole Half Marathon put on in Walnut Creek to benefit the local YMCA.

What a race!

It was a cold morning but completely free of the clouds we all feared (last year's race was freezing, pouring rain, and windy). My stomach was churning (why? I know not) and my toes were numb (note to self: walking through frost-laden grass is bound to get your mesh uppers and, consequently, socks damp) but the excitement was palpable in crowd, which was equal parts locals to out-of-townees. A couple of the folks from Raleigh Running Outfitters were there sporting their orange singlets and we were there with some logos of our own.

At the pre-race meeting, the organizer informed us that there had been some last minute changes to the course, to avoid having participants cross traffic. (When I was recounting this to my mother, she thought she remembered an accident not too long ago - she was right.) While undoubtedly the right decision, I found myself frustrated that I didn't know what course the new route would follow.

Despite the two previous long runs being mostly for naught (we ran maybe 15% of what we covered during those runs), I still hit my goals (even surpassed them) and busted out a full sprint as I came into the final turn. All in all, I not only shaved more than two minutes off my time but I averaged less than a 9:00/mile! (Sadly, I forgot to hit the stop button on my Garmin for nearly a full minute afterwards, so my stats aren't quite the same.)

Even more exciting was the progress both the men made at this race. Out of 175 finishers, David came in 20th (3rd in his age group) and James close behind at 34th (2nd in his age group). They both came in under 1:40!

All in all, it was an awesome experience for a hometown race, one that I think we all look forward to running again.

As a postscript, I will be hanging up my Brooks Ravenna's after this race; I look forward to the arrival of my new Brooks PureFlow!