Plano Balloon Fest Half Marathon

As part of my marathon training program I ran the Plano Balloon Fest Half Marathon this morning.  I was supposed to run 14 training miles, so racing a Half seemed like a lot more fun to me.  The race was gorgeous, the course took us through some farmland, residential areas and a beautiful park.  It was fantastic to see the balloons lifting off during the race.  Beautiful!  But it was a very challenging hilly course.  I tried to hold my pace, but eventually it was too much.  I really slowed down in the last couple of miles, so ready for it to be over.  I was disappointed with my finish time, felt I was trained to run much faster, but I wasn't thinking about the impact of the hills.  Once results were posted, I realized I finished 1st in my age group! That is a first for me on a long race!

Post race margarita!!