AF Canyon Half Marathon

Usually I am smiling when I see my picture being taken during a race. This picture proves that I really was running hard, because this is as much smile as I could manage. 

I love the AF Canyon Half Marathon for many reasons... the course is really pretty coming down the canyon, all the registration fees go to supporting people with cancer and their families, you get a great Nike tech shirt that I actually wear, the volunteers and race support is great, and there is Kneader's French toast at the finish line! The only downside is getting up freaking early to get to a race with a 6am start time, but when the day starts heating up, I was very happy to start early (and on time!). And this year I added another reason to love this race... I had a new personal best for a half marathon... 1:42! That averages out to 7:45 per mile, which is very fast for me. 

Although the course has quite a bit of downhill, I still had to work for that time, and I cut 5 minutes from my time last year on the same course. Chad also set a PR with 1:35...way to go Chaddie! This is a great local race that sells out...if you want to do a half marathon in June, I highly recommend this race.