My personal best in Half Marathon - 2:08:17

Finished the CapCity Half Marathon yesterday and was very pleased with my performance and time. Nitin and I did it together. Before the race I was hoping to at least finish the race. Was thinking it would be good if I make it under 2:30 and very good if i came in under 2:21 (my last year time). As you see from my previous post I was not too sure about this race. Here are some pictures of my race. We get to downtown and meet with some friends and head to the start point. Nitin advised to start with the 2:15 pacer and then if we felt tired to fall back and keep pace with the 2:30 pacer. Lucky for us we could not find the 2:15 pacer. So we stuck with the 2:05 pacer. Race started at sharp 8am. Our coral came to the start point at what I thought was in 2 minutes. We were with the 2:05 pacer until 6 mile marker. Nitin fell back coz he had to stop for a 'break'. I carried on. Made some new friends on the run. At mile marker 9 wanted to stop for a pee. But I remembered what happened to me last year when I had stopped. So decided to carry on. Mile 11 to 12 was tough. Was very very tempted to walk but still kept going. There were many many people on the sides cheering all runners. One of them had a board which read - one step at a time, every step takes you nearer your goal. Another one read - don't walk, all of us are watching you. Such boards kept me going. Finally I see the smoke coming out at the far end. I thought the finish line was close. Yes it was but not that close. Then finally I see the finish line and that kept me going. The clock read 2:22:45. I was happy that I finished the race. Was not too happy to see 2:22. Thinking I started late the real time could be 2:20 and still I would be better than last year. Then Nitin comes in at 2:32 and says his time was around 2:24. That means my time should have been around 2:15. I get a little excited. Still not sure how I had done. Finally the results were announced and I had done my second half marathon in 2:08:17. This is my personal best. Yeah!!!!