Our first weekend in October started out with a super good friend of mine and I running the half marathon together. As I watched the weather leading up to October 3rd, the temperatures kept getting colder and colder. I never did think to buy some pants or tights to run in until the night before the race. We went over to Kristen and Mike's house and they cooked us an a-mazing dinner. Mmmm...I could actually go for some again right now. We went home that night, but were back up at 5:15 the next morning. The race started at 7:15, but Kristen and I planned to meet up at 6:15, do a little stretching, and be good to go at start time. That is not how things happened...
We left the house at 5:50 so plenty of time to get to Riverport. That is - plenty of time until we hit stop dead traffic on 270 North trying to get to 70 West. Seriously...stop...dead...traffic. We moved maybe a quarter of a mile in 35 minutes. It was 6:50 and we were still sitting. My stomach was a mess of nerves. Here I am thinking, "I've been training for this race for 4 1/2 months and I'm going to miss it because of stinking traffic!" Oooo...I almost get knots in my stomach thinking about it just now.
Jason finally decided to try a different route and EVERYONE must have been sitting in that traffic because NO ONE was on the different route. We pulled into the parking lot with 10 minutes to spare and Jason and I immediately took off for the starting line. I looked everywhere for Kristen and was finally (sadly) coming to terms that I was going to have to run this long 13.1 mile race by myself when we found each other. I think God knew there was no way I could do this race without my partner by my side. :)
We took off running and got into our pace. With a small pit stop at a Holiday Inn (ha) I was cruising on my way to my first half marathon completed. It was amazing to look around during the race and see all the different runners by our side. 8000 runners were there that day. 8000. That's just crazy.
Mile 9 hit hard and I was really ready to throw in the towel. Well...I couldn't really throw in the towel. The marathon organizers must have known that mile was a hard one. At mile 9 we were running in the middle of nowhere with corn fields on either side. Corn fields. Even if I wanted to quit, I couldn't. Where was I going to go? So Kristen and I trucked on. Again, there is no way I could have made it through this half marathon without her. ***Thank you Kristen!!!!!***
Jason and Mike cheered us on a couple times throughout the race and it definitely gave us that spurt of energy to keep us going. We finished the race in 2 hours and 22 minutes (and some change). I am so excited and so proud of myself that I accomplished my goal. And now, the half marathon bug has definitely bitten. I'm hoping to run Half Marathon # 2 in May.
I should have instructed Jason to take pictures throughout the race, but I completely forgot. This is the only picture I have - Kristen and I after the race. I don't know that I've ever been so physically exhausted in my entire life. But, it is a great photo and a great way to remember an awesome day.
Next up...Los Angeles!
