Sunset Beach, NC was a lovely location to run my first 1/2 marathon. I arrived about 1/2 hour before the start, which was plenty of time to pick up my registration packet and t-shirt. I even had enough time to use the facilities, despite the long line, once the men re-claimed the men's room. Drinking a coffee/energy drink before the race was a tough decision but it turned out to be the right call. I did skip breakfast but carried along numerous energy bars and drinks on my back.

Following a pacer was something new for me and I chose to run with the 3 hour pacer. They were a nice couple from Wilmington pushing along their newborn baby. I was able to keep up with the 13:40 pace pretty well until the bridge. Running and walking kept me within 100 yards of the pacer until about mile 9. At this point, I picked up my pace with a lady running in the name of Pat Tillman. We moved ahead of the pacer. She was very nice and a couple of miles disappeared rather quickly until I came to the bridge once again. It was here that I realized picking up the pace was the wrong thing to do. The pacer rushed by me as I became light headed and had to slow down and reach into my bag of goodies. I ate half of a peanut butter power bar and drank a green tea going across the bridge. The pacer had disappeared and my ability to run/walk disappeared with them.

The last two miles seemed to take forever but I finished in 3:08 and a welcome committee from the GSRC met me at the finish line, congratulated me, photographed me, and directed me to the food.