The Fall race season kicked off this weekend with the City of Oaks Marathon. I ran my 15th half marathon, The Rex Healthcare half marathon.

This race is always interesting because of daylight savings—usually plenty of rest! But daylight savings seems pretty pointless in the 21st century, but regardless, we still have to deal with the false sense of time change. (That’s for you Damon!)

Caitlyn’s first half marathon

At about 5:00am in the morning, the sound of thunder woke us up. Who ordered the race day thunderstorm in the early morning? The rain kept the temperatures up. The predicted 38º ended up being 42º – which was fine by me.

Mom, MB, and Caitlyn were on-hand to watch the race. They saw me start under the NC State Belltower, then were at the 10k finish line (6.2 miles) to send me off for the remainder of the half marathon.

I finished the half marathon in 1 hour and 43 minutes. Not quite a PR, but no complaints with the injuries I’ve had. I’m very happy with my time and feeling very confident for the next race.

Next weekend, I run the Outer Banks half marathon for the second time. Last year, I ran the Pamlico Jack Challenge, an 8K on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday. This year, I’m just focused on the half.

On Thanksgiving Day, I’ve been running an 8k turkey trot. I’m changing things up this year and got one of the last slots in the Skinny Turkey. The race is in North Raleigh and I’ve never been on the course before. It should be interesting!

Let’s take a look at my past race history.

My past races

2012 running medals

• 2007 City of Oaks half marathon – 1:54 (Fall)
• 2008 Raleigh Rocks half marathon – 1:55 (Spring)
• 2008 City of Oaks half marathon – 1:50 (Fall)
• 2009 Raleigh Rocks half marathon – 1:55 (Spring)
• 2009 City of Oaks half marathon – 1:50 (Fall)
• 2010 Tobacco Road half marathon – 1:53 (Spring)
• 2010 Flying Pirate half marathon – 1:49 (Spring)
• 2010 City of Oaks half marathon – 1:46 (Fall)
• 2010 Outer Bank marathon – 3:55 (Fall)
• 2011 Tobacco Road half marathon – 1:45:07 (Spring)
• 2011 Flying Pirate half marathon – 1:45:56 (Spring)
• 

  Shibby finishes the 2012 City of Oaks Rex Healthcare half marathon

  2011 City of Oaks half marathon – 1:41:38 (Fall) [PR]

• 2011 Outer Banks half marathon –  1:42:33 (Fall)

2012

• 2012 Tobacco Road half marathon – 1:44:39 (Spring)
• 2012 Flying Pirate half marathon – 1:45:39* (Spring)
• 2012 Bay to Breakers 12k – 01:00:25 (Spring)
• 2012 Oktoberfest Run Green 8k –  39:12 (Fall)
• 2012 City of Oaks half marathon – 1:43:53 (Fall)

* – It rained the entire time for the Flying Pirate race in 2012.