Pacific half marathon

Yesterday I ran the Pacific half marathon. For a first half, it wasn't so bad. (Um, ok, who am I kidding - as I crossed the finish line I thought to myself "well, I can cross that one off the life list, no need to do THAT again...").

Here we are queing at the start:

I can honestly say, this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life - harder even than hiking in and out of the Grand Canyon (all 17 miles) in one day. (Which, by the way, I will be doing for the second time this coming Saturday...am I crazy? Yeah, I think so...)

But, in retrospect, it's really kind of all my fault. See, I didn't consider one very important piece of information when I registered for this run:

See that HUGE hill on mile 3? My nemesis. Notice the not-so-gentle upward slope across the whole route? Not a gentle introduction to the world of half marathons.

Although, the view at about mile 4:


Yeah, that part was pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures at the finish line. I was too busy hugging the sides of the finish arch :) but I did get this cool one from the race photographers:


I'm really proud of myself (yes, it's MY blog, so I get to say that) and although yesterday I was thinking this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, today, with a little retrospect, I'm wondering which race is next? (Flat races only, hilly routes need not apply.)