Austin 1/2 Marathon

WE DID IT!!!! Wohoo! We finished the half marathon in 1 hr and 51 minutes. We really really wanted to finish under 2 hrs and we did! That was around a 81/2 min. pace per mile. It was so much fun... yes we are crazy. A few years ago I wouldn't have imagined I'd run a 1/2 marathon and love it. (13.1 miles) Here is the story in some detail so bare with me, I am writing it out so I can look back one day and remember everything. We had to get downtown by 5:30 am this morning in order to find parking and locate a Starbucks that was open and ready to give me a tall, non-fat, vanilla latte, hold the whip.(Dalene- i know, i know, friends don't let friends drink Starbucks) I had to time it right to get it flowin in my body 30 min before taking off on the run. It totally made a difference! Thankfully the weather wasn't that bad. Saturday morning we went for a quick run and it was SO cold. Today though it was just right. By the time we started running, it was perfect weather for a marathon. Not cold enough to make my thumbs numb although I had a runny nose, but thankfully some people along the way were giving out tissue. There were so many people that came out to cheer. Every few miles was a band, in some cases not that great of one, but hey, thanks for comin out for the support. I have to brag on my amazing husband. The day before I was freaking myself out thinking we weren't going to do good. I just kept thinking how the week before we hardly ran since I had been sick. I still was feeling a bit nauseated every now and then. (I'm not pregnant) But Bud was so sweet to encourage me and calm my nerves. Before we ran the race we were lined up with the thousands and thousands of people (about 14,000!) and before the start he grabbed my hand and said a prayer for us, for endurance and strength for our bodies. Mile 10, and that prayer came into play! The first 3 miles were uphill but looking back, we had so much adrenaline and excitement that I don't remember trying hard to go uphill one bit. We were weaving in and out of people and focused on keeping up with the lead pacer of our group. Mile 3-6 were mostly downhill and we were heading back downtown to run along the river. Mile 6-9 were pretty much flat and that's when I started to feel it but we were in a zone and just kept going. Miles 10-13 were killer! The worst was mile 11.7, a hill that was touchier. Bud and I had only ran up to 10 miles in training so we weren't sure what would happen the last 3 miles. We had ran a little under 8 min miles the first 3 miles so the last 3 miles we were able to take a few breathers and stretch in order to reach our goal in time. The entire time though, Bud and I would encourage each other and it meant so much to me. At his low points I'd step it up and my low points, he would. My knees aren't that great. At mile 9 I started to feel some pain and it just kept getting worse. By mile 11-ish I was pretty much running on my toe when I'd touch down on my right leg. It's now Sunday evening and I pretty much feel like a grandma. I don't plan to be running this week so I'm sure they'll heal up. I can't wait for our next 1/2 marathon! My ultimate goal of which 1/2 marathon I'd like to run sometime in my lifetime is the Disney Princess one at Disney World. Bud just rolls his eyes when I talk about it. Maybe one day my dream will come true. We were planning to run one this summer in Kenya but the price to run is ridiculous and the money apparently goes towards an animal reserve. Running for children and charities is a worthy cause, not so sure about animals. I mean, that sounds bad, animals are great, they're God's creation BUT I'd rather put my time, energy and money elsewhere. The Austin marathon went to 26 different charities locally in Austin. Some really good ones. After we went back to the house we stayed in this weekend, we collapsed on the couch... and then ordered a big ol pizza. For dinner tonight I had a milkshake and chocolate chip cookies... a champions dinner! We fly out a week from Wednesday. This week is a busy one, a lot of packing and running around like crazy. We'll be cherishing these last few days with friends and family. More to come...

Linda, waiting for us to run by

Some of my fans, Gail and Linda

Bud and I... We finished!