Okanagan International Half Marathon

This was one of the best racing experiences I've ever had. The weather was 10-12 and cloudy/breezy enough to make it an enjoyable run.

We started "seeding" ourselves around quarter to eight. I picked the 2:15 bunny to hang out with. I figured if I stuck with her I'd do better than I did in NS and that's all I wanted from this run. When they said go, though, she took off like her tail was on fire. I did NOT have it in me to go below 6 mins/km for the entire time and dropped back a bit.
At around the 4 km mark, I noticed that I had put Miss Bunny in my dust. She continued to stay there until the very end. I finished in 2:09:33 (according to my Garmin).
I have to say, in the first few kilometres when we were making the "gradual climb" my shins were KILLING me and I started to doubt that I'd be finishing.... then I focussed on other things. Kelowna is a beautiful city. There are apple trees everywhere! I also ran past golf courses, horses and llamas. Once I was able to relax and enjoy the people and things around me, everything became possible again.
There were 13 of us from mine & Howard's clinic at Kelowna. We finished in times ranging from 1:44 to 2:33 and I couldn't be more proud of any of us. I feel so blessed to have had such a great bunch of people to run with these past four months. I know that I've made myself some life-long friends and I'm thankful.

*side note, I've not eaten that many apples in 2 days before in my life--so GOOD*