I Am Still Alive

I am happy to report that I did indeed run and finish the 1/2 marathon yesterday. That's 13.1 miles for anyone who is wondering. I am pleasantly surprised that I am not hobbling along today, and actually have no major aches or pains to report - and that includes my shins. What a blessing!

The 1/2 marathon started at 7:30, so I was up at 5:30 (after a night of not really sleeping, I might add. I guess I was worried I would oversleep so I slept lightly and kept waking up). I was off to meet Sarah and Jim at their house by 6:00. We were in line (in the dark, in the cold) for the shuttle bus by 6:30 and at the start line by 7:00... Here is a wrap-up from my perspective:

BOOS:

1. The weather. Thankfully, it was not raining. Thankfully, it was not in the twenties or the teens. But it was freaking cold. And WINDY. Holy cow. I swear a few times I thought I was standing in place even though I was running.

2. Running while needing to pee. The "ample" toilet facilities at the beginning of the race turned out to be two port-a-potties for about oh, 600 people. So after standing in line for 30 minutes and still not getting to go, the race was starting so I just had to run. Yes, there were a few stops a long the way, but I didn't want to stop and not be able to stand back up. So I just kept running.

3. The course. I know races like these often do start out in the middle of nowhere. But when you live in the midwest, the middle of nowhere really is the middle of nowhere. For someone who really needs those visual stimuli to take your mind off of what you are doing, there was nada. The most exciting thing was a dead deer on the side of the road and a small herd of cows. Oh, and there was a guy plowing or tilling or doing something of the sort to his field, too. Once it got into "civilization" things were a little better.

4. None existant race stats. So apparently I didn't run this race according to the posted race results. I am no where to be found. I guess my computer chip thingy didn't activate or something. Luckily, I had my Ipod to record my time which was 2 hours 17 minutes and 10 seconds. Not a world record, and a little slower pace than my training runs had been, but I was happy enough with it, especially considering my original goal when setting out to do this was to just finish it. According to the stats that were posted, my time would have fallen a little past midway through all the categories (180/325 females, 37/60 in 30 -34 females *note I am on the old end of that spectrum, and 416/644 overall).

YAYS:

1. I finished it!!!

2. It's over!!!

3. I'm not very sore.

4. The course was mostly flat, only some "gentle rolling hills" as listed in the course description.

5. My kids think I'm cool. Just a cute side note - today in Primary (kids' Sunday School at church) the lady conducting was saying that "someone had something special" happen this weekend and was going on about how this special event took place and wondered if anyone knew who she was talking about. She was referring to a girl who got baptized, but Big J raised his hand and said, "My mom!" So sweet. He told me that it was "awesome" I ran 13 miles and that next time he wanted to do it with me. :-) Thinking of my boys cheering for me at the end helped me finish. In fact, my last 3 miles were as fast as my first 3.

Here are a few post-race shots. It'd been a rough morning. For more pictures of during the race go to my friend Sarah's blog here. Unfortunately, I don't have any "finishing the race pics". We'll just leave it at that. It's ok, Babe...

Right after the race. Look how red and salty my face is!

The fam freezing their butts off to support me.

My running buddies. Well, really just Sarah. Jim jumped in to steal our glory by running the 1/2 marathon without training for it. I hope he's really sore today.... j/k Jim! They are some tough cookies!

My favorite pic of all. LOL! I look like I should be on the short bus.
That's about how I felt after it.

Aaah, victory!