Couer d’ Alene is a resort town in the panhandle of Idaho and is unexpectedly breath-taking. Last December, when it was cold and icy, it seemed like the perfect place to run a half-marathon. On Sunday, I was very happy that I had picked it. The weather was perfect, the course not too hilly (a little uneven) and not too big of a crowd. It felt very comfortable.
It has been such a long time since I have walked away from a race satisfied. This lack of satisfaction is due mostly, I believe, to having my PRs five years in the past. I approached this race differently, I really just wanted sub 10:00 minute pace then I trained. Setting reasonable goals and holding myself accountable for the work led to a 2:07.44 for 13.2 miles I’m still striving for that sub 2:00 but this was a good starting point.
I have to give my sister quite a bit of credit for this time. She is great at keeping pace and frequently warned me when I 
started to push pace a bit too much in the earlier miles. I had not originally thought we would run together but having someone to laugh with for most the race helps. I had long forgotten how much fun it is to race with someone else. She did allude this is likely her first and last half marathon but I might be able to convince her to run a 10k.
I wish I had my splits for this half but I had a button on my Garmin jam on the way back from CDA and the splits were deleted. I did hit halfway in 55:27.34. You can tell I slowed on the second half. I think a few more long runs over 11 miles could help. I know my 11th mile was slow clocking in at 11:12 before bouncing back. Next up in 10k in 2 weeks.
-Cara Hawkins-Jedlicka
@carabyrd