Halfsies done!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes for the half-marathon yesterday!  After 9 weeks of training, running along my river every day, one time in hail, a few times in rain,  and often times to quite interesting sitings, our hard work paid off as Margaret (my running buddy) and I crossed the finish line right in front the Monastery Jeronimos.  

Here, you can see the 25 de Abril bridge where we started and the track along the river where I did my training. 

It was a gorgeous day for running- 65 and really sunny- I have the horrible tan lines to prove it.   You really couldn't have asked for better running weather.  The crowds were cheering us on and there was live music along the route motivating us with their Portuguese accented American rock songs.    I distinctly remember hearing "I'm Walking (Running) on Sunshine" and getting a little extra boost in my step. 

Some differences from races I've run in the US: 
First, the race started at 10:30am- awesome!  I've been to races at home where I had to line up before the run was even up.  No one likes running 13 miles at that time, right?  Who does that?  It was quite nice to get a full 8 hours of sleep, wake up at a normal time and have breakfast before having to make it to the race start. 

Second, I think there were more people in this race than any races I've run in the US, probably for a few reasons.  First, there is a meia maratona (what I ran, a half-marathon, 13.1 miles) and then, there is a mini maratona (half of a half marathon, so about 6.6 miles), which about 80% of the people did.  It seemed like a big family event.  Old and young were out walking it.  A group of what I assume is similar to our girl scouts was pushing people in wheelchairs.  The prime minister if Portugal always runs the race too.  It's the largest half-marathon in the country and this was the 20th anniversary.  It seemed to bring out half of Lisbon and people from all over the world.  I even ran into 2 girls from St. Louis!  They saw my race shirt from the half-marathon in St. Louis and had actually run the same race there.  It's a small world, after all! 

Third, they didn't start us off staggered.  Usually in races, you line up according to how quickly you will be running.  Doing so allows the race to run smoothly without you having to dodge people who are going too slow or be in the way of those people who are going faster.  Well, they didn't do that here and it lead to an annoying walk run pace for the first 10 minutes when we were going over the bridge. 

Here, you can see how crowded it was trying to go over the bridge:

Oh, and one really cool thing.  Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea smashed the World record in the Half Marathon on Sunday, clocking 58:23 at the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon.  He ran it in less than an hour!  That means he ran less than 5 minute miles for 13 miles.   That blow me away and I think it's pretty cool that I was running in the same race as the guy when he broke the world record.  Maybe some of this racing karma spread to me :)

One thing you will only see in Portugal.  You can't really carry anything when you're running, so you are limited to a little band that holds your keys, money, and other necessities.  For one girl on our train, that was a pack of cigarettes.  All donned in her race gear and ready to run, she was sure to have her pack of cigarettes for the run.  13 miles can be stressful, you know. 

Thanks again to everyone for the motivation and support.  Also, to Margaret for being an awesome running buddy.  I see you other marathon trainers.  You can do it!