KC half marathon 2010

Could not have asked for more perfect weather for race day! Beautiful fall day! We headed down to crown center only to get stuck in one big ol traffic jam on I35 which we continued to sit in for an hour! Nervously watching the minutes tick by, and having thoughts of jumping out of the car and scaling the I35 bridge to Union Station. With a 7:30 start we were coming upon the road that led to the parking garage at about 7:15. The 5kers of the family so kindly allowed the half marathoners of the family to bail out of the cars and literally run to the starting line. We had the packet and timing chip and number of another girls' so we were desperately trying to find her in the masses of people (11,000 runners!) We gave up our porta potties visits we all needed, did no stretching and started with the 2:35 pacers instead of the 1:55 as planned, handed off a race packet along with a cell phone to a kind but complete stranger that offered so Mandy did not have to run with it (we didn't have time to bag check it)...ahhh, nerves were in full force as you can imagine!!

I felt great and in spite of my having the urge to really push it to catch the two hr pace group, mandy, kristine and i fell into a pace together and slowly gained passing the 2:10 pace group. The miles really clicked by quickly...i had some great running partners!! Thank you guys!! I had no trouble with my blood sugars. Thank God! I ate one sports bean and drank a couple sips of water and gatorade at every aid station...getting more on my face and shirt than in my mouth (i cannot drink out of a cup and run at the same time, i tell ya!)

At mile 10 i knew it was all downhill from there (literally) that was SOO encouraging! Those of you that run know there is a lot of mind work that goes into running...talking yourself through every mile! They had various bands all along the course, at mile 11 the song "eye of the tiger" was blaring...it was just the boost i needed. I looked at my watch and started to get emotional seeing that i "had it" timewise...i quickly told myself "you have two miles to go you can't celebrate yet!" Runners were dropping off like flies with leg cramps, stopping to stretch!

On the last stretch i caught the two hr pacer as she slowed and screamed for all those near her to pass her to get the under two hr half. I can't explain how good it felt to beat my time that i have been trying to beat this past year! Thank you God!! (i was begging him to let me do it!) It's not a fantastic time, it's very average but it's about setting a goal and accomplishing it that felt so good!

I was shocked as i came into the finishing chute to see my husband there screaming for me to push it! Trey had a cross country meet and in no way did i think he would make it down in time to see me finish. Trey had no sooner crossed the finish line and they loaded up and rushed down to see me finish. Thank you babe! That meant the world to me! You have been so supportive of all my training and the time it takes, you always do whatever it takes to make it work and i am very thankful for that!

My goal time 1:59:59
My official time 1:57:05

And last but not least...pictures of the day...

coming down the finishing chute!

half marathon in under 2:00...check!

my fantastic running partners! We had not trained once together but all three wanted the same time very bad!

my mom and dad ran the 5k with my oldest brother roger...my brother in law greg ran the 5k with his boys brendon and caleb and my two sisters june and susan and i all did the half

the half- marathoners

my time print out to make it official!

my pace band that i tried to follow throughout the race...told us where we needed to be...

my sock felt soaking wet during the run and i couldn't figure out why...i had no pain but a must have done a poor job when i clipped my toenails the night before :)

It was such a fun day! The kids did a race too later in the morning but i will do that on another post because this got rather long ;)