My First Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

Today I made it to another major goal for the year: my first half marathon. I had feared that some recent foot pain might sideline me, so I'm just so thankful I was able to race today. I also really appreciate my parents driving out for the event.
I didn't know exactly what to expect today, this being my first distance race. So I set a three-tiered time goal for myself: good-1:59:59, better-1:55:00, best- under 1:50:00. To achieve that, I planned to start conservatively and chip away 3-5 seconds from each mile. I was successful in this strategy, finishing the race with a time of 1:51:32. Overall, I felt great. There were some lonely miles, but at about 8 miles I sort of partnered with one guy for awhile. I decided I wouldn't let him pass me, so we just sort of used each other to keep pace. With about 2 miles to go, he suddenly patted me on the back and said "go for it". Then I lost him. After that I had a bit of a bout with "jell-o legs" and a very tough effort for the final mile. I was reluctant to post unflattering photos of my finish, but since our readers are pretty much exclusively family, I guess I'll let you see it (you'll know which one I mean- it's pretty grisly)...