Salinas Valley Half Marathon

After experiencing one the greatest moments of my life two weeks ago at the San Francisco Marathon, I seriously feared that this weekend's half marathon in Soledad would be a big let down. Thankfully, the Salinas Valley Half Marathon delivered! I got out there and had fun. I did experience a little bit of shin splints early on, but I quickly recovered from it. I kept thinking back to mile 14 of my first marathon when I cramped up, so I took it a notch down and relaxed. It worked. After mile three, I was able to breeze through. It helped that my running buddy Erin and her friend Naomi were out there with me. I finished the race with a gun time of 2:38:26, a time I am very happy with.

I hope this does not sound too cocky, but running this half marathon was pretty easy for me. I've already run a full 26.2 miler, so running half the distance definitely felt significantly easier. I'm much more relaxed out there now. I have nothing to prove to anyone anymore, not even myself. The Salinas Valley Half Marathon is my 22nd half marathon, and I'm still loving it. Life is sweet!