Half Marathon #5!

I'm sure that by now you have lost all hope that I will post any details of the half-marathon that Beth & I ran in on September 11th.

Never fear - the whole story is here! In this very post!

The morning of the race dawned dreary & damp. It had rained cats & dogs during the night & was still sprinkling fairly heavily. I ate my pre-race breakfast of cereal, toast with peanut butter, & yogurt with a real feeling of dread. I don't like to run in the rain, let alone run 13 miles in the rain! I was imagining our clothes getting soggy & droopy - ick! I woke Mike up to tell him that if Beth wasn't coming to run with me I would probably crawl back in bed. I was being a total pansy. Beth got there & she was totally excited so that helped me out a bit. We were running a few minutes behind so we snapped this quick pic & headed out. We parked a couple of blocks from the start line so we kind of sprinted to get there. I noticed right away that I might have a problem. And I was irked. You see, I always make a point of never running a race in running clothes that haven't been worn many times during a training run. That way you should never be surprised by a clothing malfunction. More on this topic later.

The race began & I was excited to see that there were quite a few participants (a little over 300). I was a bit worried that there would only be like 50. That meant we could have been very close to last. I always hope for a big crowd because that means there will be lots of walkers. And even if we jog & walk we should always be able to stay in front of the walkers.

There's no shame in finishing last. I just don't want to do it.

Anyway, I have to tell you a little bit about my sister. She is a great running partner, especially on race day. I tend to get anxious & it goes straight to my gut. In order to keep from having some sort of terrible emergency during the race I numb myself out. The only thing bad about that is that I then can't really pump myself up when the going gets tough. Beth is just the opposite. She is pumped, full of adrenaline & ready to go. She is the best cheerleader in the world. I didn't think she was obnoxious at all until the last mile. And let's face it, by mile 13 I would have thought my sweet G-ma was obnoxious.

As we plugged along we gave a big cheer & pumped our fists at every mile marker. I'm sure the other runners thought we were a little nutty, but if it works to keep you going, you gotta do it!

I started noticing my wardrobe malfunction again at about mile 8. I had taken off my long sleeved t-shirt & tied it around my waist. We had run the first 7 miles solid without a walk break. As we neared mile 8 we had been running again for a little while. I could sense a definite movement south from my running capris. At the mile marker there was little crowd of spectators cheering us on. All I could see in my mind's eye was my capris hitting the deck tripping me & me falling pantless right at their feet - just like a scene from America's Funniest Videos. I told Beth we had to slow down & I conducted a major readjustment of my capris & retied my shirt tight like a belt. Thankfully the problem did not reoccur.

The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. It is a wonderful course that runs through town then goes onto a running/biking path that took us out into the country to finish at a family recreation center where they have hosted the college level cross country nationals. The rain had stopped but the sky remained overcast & the temperature was cool. Actually, the weather ended up being ideal for a long distance race.

Beth & I really tried to pour it on for our finish. The last half mile was off the road on the cross country course. Silly as it may seem, I've never run much in the grass. We had to adjust a little, but I think we finished respectably - 2 hours & 28 minutes. Not my fastest time, but not my slowest either. We were both really happy considering we had not trained very consistently.

Here we are after the race with Caleb & Maddie.

And yeah, I had to hold up my hand like that because I have now completed five half-marathons!