Thayne and I flew to Baton Rouge Friday evening and left the airport to absolutely beautiful weather! We headed to a restaurant that had some local bands playing and enjoyed our evening. Saturday we headed to the expo and went on a really neat tour of the USS Kidd. The weather was seriously gorgeous and was looking to be perfect racing weather Sunday morning.

I was right! Sunday morning brought bright skies, no wind and hovering around 42-45 degrees. Perfect conditions!

Before the race started I was a bit more nervous than usual. My last few half marathons hadn't been my best feeling, regardless of my times. I had now had about two months since my last race to regroup and focus on training vs racing. I wanted to push and see what I could do, but that always brings about the possibility of failure.

I knew this course was fairly flat, but it was also one that I wouldn't see Thayne during at all. It's nice to know WHEN I'm going to see him to know I'll get an extra boost if I really need it.

In the start corral, ready to go. Supporting Racing 4 Rett!

The race started and I ended up surrounding myself with people who seemed to be about the same speed as my current PR (last March in Arkansas, 1:35:56). We headed out of downtown Baton Rouge and found ourselves by a very nice park and lake. The breezes off the lake felt amazing, even though the temperature was cool that morning.

We passed through the LSU campus, and at this point I was so focused that I didn't even realize we were there! Around half way we found ourselves back at the lake and rounding the other side. There were a lot of spectators around this side who came out of their homes (beautiful!) to cheer. There were a few small hills around here, but nothing serious.

Around 10 miles I knew that the rest of the course was how we started. I could tell I was running pretty close to a PR, but wasn't quite sure what I'd end up with. Having a 5k left can mean just about anything, really. It's still plenty of time to "blow up."

I was still feeling pretty good at this point! Usually somewhere between 9 and 11 miles I have a really tough mile or so, then seem to gather myself up and have a second wind coming into the finish.

There were a lot of spectators the last few miles which really helped keep me going strong. I remember a few girls telling me they loved my skirt! (Thanks, Sparkle Athletic for keeping us looking fashionable while staying sporty!!)

Coming into the finish I knew I'd get a PR... I just wasn't sure what I'd hit. I sprinted as hard as I could towards the finish line and wound up with a new PR of 1:34:58! Almost a full minute off my time from last March! My overall pace was 7:15, and I was 15th woman to finish overall. Wow! I also took 2nd in my age group, but ended up being bumped up to 1st because she ended up being 3rd female overall.

After the race Thayne and I went back to the hotel to get warm and clean up before we headed back to the post race party. Now I thought the race was amazing, but they know how to party in Louisiana! Each runner received tickets for 8 food samples and 2 beers. Thayne and I split the food samples and were actually full! The sizes were definitely bigger than just samples.

Hey hey! My award for 1st place in my age group!

Louisiana ended up being a huge success of a race, and a really fun weekend. I'd highly suggest adding this one to your list if you're able to travel and run. I definitely started out 2016 with a bang!

To go back to the race report archives, click here.

Welcome to my blog! A little about me… I’ve always been fairly athletic and loved playing sports (watching is a different story… unless it’s a track meet or some type of running event). Growing up I played every sport I could and eventually found track in middle school and immediately fell in love.

From middle school through college, anything over 400 meters seemed much too far to run, though I did run cross country in high school my first three years. I had a successful sprinting/hurdling career during that time achieving school records and qualifying for the State meet the NCAA DII national meet. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Health and Human Performance from Fort Hays State University in 2012 and no longer having a coach expecting me to show up for practice daily, I had to figure out what was next for myself.

I turned to distance running in the summer of 2012 mostly to keep health and fitness as a large part of my life as I worked towards my personal training certification. I didn't realize I'd become hooked to distance running while training for my first half marathon in spring of 2013! Since then, I have successfully completed multiple 5ks, over 20 half marathons, 4 full marathons, two Half Ironman triathlons and one Full Ironman triathlon. In these accomplishments I've also raced in 19 states and qualified for (and ran) the Boston Marathon.

Now that the Boston Marathon has passed, I plan to continue learning how to run as a new mom and build my fitness back to my previous abilities. I have a goal of running a half marathon in all 50 states, as well as running all six World Marathon Majors.

I’ll write up a short race recap of all my races over half marathon distance for you to follow along on my journey. They will also post chronologically right here on this blog. I plan to eventually post other tips and tricks, recipes, and the “whys” of distance running. I hope you enjoy!