Hello, My name is JAYME.

(hanz bro) not (hanz bur-o) Is it really that difficult people?

One year older, a few pounds heavier and a little hairier I crossed the finish line in Manteo again. Justine and myself traveled out to Kitty Hawk on Saturday and prepped ourselves for her first half marathon and my second. Since taking on quite a bit of work in my spare time I didn’t have much of an opportunity to train this year - not to mention the sweltering heat that persisted through the end of September and into early October. It was a much more friendly experience this time around because I knew what to expect. The course was pretty much the same except they added more course before the bridge and moved the finish closer. I also learned this year that it indeed does help to eat during the race. I munched on a complimentary Snickers Marathon granola bar for the 13 mile trek and boy was it good! I didn’t really know what my goal was last year except just to finish the race. My goal this year was the same and I was hoping to beat last year’s time, but I was 4 minutes slower (2 hours, 23 mins), but I did run the entire race, so I was happy about that. Mom, Dad, Kelly, Woody and Jennifer decided to get sneaky and show up at the finish line. Sorry you guys drove all that way and didn’t make it in time to see me finish! Maybe I’ll get everyone involved next year in the run or the fun walk. Justine finished the race in 3 hours, just as she had trained for - great job baby! All in all, it was a good little getaway and we had a great time.

Praise the Lord, both literally and figuratively. My goal was to finish the race and to do it within a 2 hour time span. I finished it in 2 hours, 19 minutes which was pretty decent for a scrub like me. I placed 1102 overall out of 2300 runners which was fine with me. To put things in perspective the number one finisher in the half marathon finished in 1 hour 6 minutes (thanks for the correction CB). How about insane?? Anyway, I won’t let that unrealism for myself damper my sense of accomplishment :) Thanks to Chris, Kelly Mae and Emily for going with me. Thanks for the support guy and gals. Here’s a clip of me finishing:

The Finish Line

Sunday I ventured out to Lake Benson Park in Garner for a change in scenery. It was a tad cool outside for an afternoon run, but I warmed up after a few laps. The great thing was that there were other people running! It has been relatively lonely running out at South Johnston for the past three months. It’s motivating to see others striving to keep in shape.

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