My new friend, Kayla Lowe. Believe it or not we met for the first time on the course about on mile 2-3. She was left behind by her friend who was a faster runner than she is so I said some encouraging words to her. She told me this was her first long race. I believe she said she had done a few 5Ks and had just started walking and running for exercise.
Well as yall who know me........I don't meet a stranger. We ended up doing the entire rest of the race together about 11 miles. I want to honestly say she helped me to keep going too and to keep me company. It was really nice to have someone to talk to on those TOUGH HILLS that Athens races are known for!
I told her we would get her friend to take our picture when we finished with my iphone and we did. We also had the professional photographer make our picture in front of the race logo board; thats the pictures above and below here!
I think we look pretty dang good for having just finished 13.1 miles! Kayla is a very sweet girl that I am so glad to have met. She is a newlywed and works for an eye Dr in Oconee county.
These photos are ones that her friend made with my cell phone; they turned out pretty good too. In the one above I was talking as usual, I know you're not surprised at seeing me with my mouth open!
I think this is one of the best ones!
See our medals! Kayla didn't even know until I told her about mile 10 that we got a medal when we finished! She thought only the age group winners got medals or awards but I told her that all finishers in Half Marathons & Full Marathons get a medal at the finish line!
Not a very good picture, Kayla had her eyes shut and I had a silly grin on my face making my neck lines stand out! You know we old women are conscious of our necks!
I think Kayla was doing a dance as we stepped across the finish line! I was giving the "thumbs up" sign to someone I knew on the sidelines who was cheering us in!
Taken the last tenth of mile going toward the finish line!
I just had stepped across the finish line pad!
YEAH I AM DONE!
Out on the course, Kayla must have said something to make me laugh!
I look like I am in pain here!!
I really enjoyed this half marathon in Athens; it was scenic and went from downtown thru UGA campus out to River Road and then to Milledge Avenue at Five Points. We went all the way down Milledge almost to Prince Avenue (that was flattest part of the race course). Then we turned and ended up on Sunset and then Bishop Park where we did end up on Prince Avenue. Went past Naval School, hospital and then turned left off Prince and went on some back streets that ended up back up on the "other side" of Athens downtown. Then we went up the worst hill to get to the the home stretch! We had a downhill to the finish line that was at least 2 tenths of a mile! Guess that was supposed to make up for the terrible hill before we got there!
I went to IHOP to eat with some running friends after the race and we really enjoyed sharing our experiences about the race. Of course the food was good too! Everything tastes good after a race, ESPECIALLY a long one!
My finish time for the race was 3:11:36 which made me happy! It was my third half marathon this year and my fastest so far.
I have one more Half Marathon to do this year; the Atlanta Thanksgiving Day Half which will be a new one for me. I have always done some other race on Thanksgiving Day.
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