Charlottesville Review

Not sure if I mentioned before- but I love this race. I am so happy to be back here having loved this year's race as well! Once again, everything was perfect! My mom, Meredith and I made a girls overnight trip, which was wonderful. We arrived in Charlottesville in the late afternoon on Friday and checked in to our hotel. We headed in to town to pick up my packet and get dinner. The weather was incredible, we had a great time sitting outside on the pedestrian mall, and had fun walking around before and after dinner. I hunted down a few Diet Coke with Limes for the morning, bought a few random things at CVS, and headed home. Well, with my mom and I in the car we had to stop for soft serve ice cream- just would not be us if we did not! The beds in the hotel were so comfy (we have a Tempurpedic at home, so many hotel beds are hard to sleep on). We were in bed early- and were both woken up by some nutty woman in the hall arguing with someone- we were not sure if the other person was on the phone or in a room, but she was extremely annoying regardless.
The morning of the race was smooth. We were downtown by 6:05, parked, walked to the start and waited just a few minutes. I did spend a lot of time in the am changing my mind about what I was going to wear. It was in the high 30's/ low 40's at the start. I ended up deciding on my Gracie's Gear tank and my SkirtSports running skirt. Many of the people around me at the start had on coats, but I ended up being so happy with my choice. With the exception of the time I was waiting for the start, I never once felt hot or cold during the race, perfect outfit choice!
The race start was uneventful, you run about 100 yards then head up a hill- nothing like starting off that way! The weather was perfect- no wind to deal with, the sun was not blazing, yet it was not too cold. The scenery was perfect, and so fun to look at. The first few miles are in town, lots of ups and downs. As you come out of town you head up another hill and then you are in the country. The fog was wearing off- there were horses in the fields and hot air ballons in the distance. I was able to maintain a great pace throughout the race- the hills did not bother me at all. The course was the same as last year, but hillier than I remembered. I think being so pregnant last year at the race, I was not trying to make a time, I was trying to finish and took it easy. I felt great when I finished- I felt like I had been out for a jog- I could have kept my pace for many more miles! I could go on forever about this race- I just loved it and I am counting the days until next years Charlottesville Half!

I maintained an 8:16 pace and finished in 1:47. My goal had been to finish under two hours- I was not hoping to PR because I assumed the hills would slow me down, but they did not.
I feel great still- I have that 'great race' runners high. I am thrilled that after being back into running for 18 weeks I managed a 1:47 on a hilly course. I have some big changes I plan on making to my racing calendar- I am so excited for all of the possibilities!