My 1st half marathon

So I ran in the Ojai to Ocean Half Marathon on Sunday, June 5th.  I had trained and knew I was ready to run it.  I also knew it was a flat course and the weather was supposed to be mild.  So I was confident and really looking forward to running.  Lisa (my friend and veteran runner) and I had reservations at the host hotel.  We were sharing a room since the race had a 6 AM start time.  Thursday before the race, I got a text from Lisa that her husband's cousin had died unexpectedly and she didn't know what the funeral arrangements would be but that it might cause a problem for the race.  As the days progressed it looked like she really might not go.  Ali and Nikki both had soccer games on Sunday, so I asked Stephen to go with me.  I told him he could sleep through my race, but I'd like some company for the night before.  Well it came down to it that Lisa decided to try to make it work.  We drove up to Ventura at 1:30 on Saturday.  Got checked in, had a nice dinner (and a scoop of ice cream!) and got to sleep.  We were up just before 5 AM, dressed and down to the start line at 5:30.  It appeared there weren't many racers, or officials at the start line.  But by 6:00 the crowd had grown and they announced the race would start in 90 seconds.  It was kind of crazy at the start.  We could barely get a run going for nearly the first quarter mile.  The finally the crowd thinned and we found our groove.  I had my Nike+GPS running while we ran so I could monitor our split times.  The first three miles we were keeping a good 8:30 pace, which was really fast for both of us.  By mile 5, we'd slowed to almost 9:00 miles but still felt great.  At mile 9 Lisa stopped for water but I decided to keep going.  At mile 11 I knew I had to push to finish strong.  I ran as fast as I could the last two miles and finished in 1:56!  I did it sub 2!!  Lisa said that had been her goal, so I'd decided it was worth trying and I did it!!  I grabbed my phone and lined up to get a shot of Lisa crossing the finish line.  She did it sub 2 also!  She came in at 1:58, her best time ever!!  It was a great race and very fun doing it with a friend.  I can't wait to do Vegas with Nikki.