We're Half Marthoners!!!!!!!!! (Part 3 of 3)

Wow, after 22 weeks of training, Tia and I finally did it! 

A helicopter flew over the stadium to signal the start of the day's events.

Full corrals!

Some wacky outfits out there!!!  This guy was a running fairy!  WOW!

Me the hubs.  : D

We're ready to get this party started!

In our corral getting ready to start our FIRST half marathon!

AND....WE'RE OFF!!! 

 Took us a few minutes to actually get to this point from where we started.

Here we go!!!  This is it...we're DOING IT!!!

Look at all of these PEOPLE!  Can you tell that this year's shirts were BLUE?!

Not sure what was up with the ice cream costume...but I thought it was cruel that they weren't offering any ice cream cones!  lol

Lots of music along the way to give us a boost of energy!

I snapped a pic of my partner.  So she got one of me too...

Not my best side...lol

The pictures sorta stopped once we started getting rained on in the last 3 miles.

Running in for the big finish...no more rain!

Locked arms...and crying!  I can't believe we did it!!!

During the race, Tia and I had decided that finishing this race was probably the 2nd biggest thing that either of us had ever done in our lives.  Aside from Tia having her little girl, and my getting married to the man of my dreams...neither of us graduated from college or went to boot camp...but we DID finish a HALF MARATHON!!!

I never knew I could love a piece of metal SO much!

The feeling was indescribable!!!

 We had a big support crowd that day.  Our cousin Alan and his wife Sadie, with their kids, Evan and Olivia were there.  Our grandparents were there...we were both surprised that our grandpa showed up!  Something neither of us expected.  Tia's parents, sister, and daughter were there; as well as my mother, sister, and husband.  Everyone wore red..which helped us pick them out long before we could even see their faces. 

 Thanks to all of you!  Each time we saw you, it gave us a much needed energy boost!

Prior to the race, we had come up with a game plan.  We had decided to go with the following:
1.  Set our interval pace at 1:05/2:30 walk/jog
2.  We will follow the pack from the start line and then fall into the intervals once the crowd thins out.
3.  Walk through water stations
4.  We are only allowed to walk through 2 intervals if needed...and only after mile 5.
5.  Baby jog the entire baseball field at the finish
6.  High five's at miles 2,4,6,8,10, and 12.
7.  Eat BLOKS at mile 3,6,9, and 11 if needed
8.  April's beeper will be set to intervals, Tia's to stop watch
9.  Our goal is to finish with a 16 min/mile at best...really just want to finish under 4 hours.


Did it work?  Well....yes and no.

At the 5 mile mark, we were doing 14:47!!!  A pace we have NEVER kept.  By mile 10, we were holding a 14:58 min/mile pace!!! WOW!!!  Tia was convinced that I'd been holding out on her. lol  Not likely.  I was definitely pushing myself to the max.  I wanted this...I wanted to finish with a good time...not just for me..but for my partner that I usually hold back.  We picked two ladies out of the sea of blue shirts (one girl was wearing pink and the other white).  We agreed to try to keep pace with these girls after we caught up with them for the 6th time.  That's when we decided we might as well get to know them as well.  We came to know them as the "A team".  Around mile 9 or so..I was feeling it.  I couldn't keep up with Tia on the runs, so I broke a rule.  I started running through our walking intervals..but it was just baby jogs.  I figured if I could keep up a slow and steady jog, then Tia could catch up with me.  Yes, I was doing more work..but it was helping us keep up our time.  I didn't always walk through the water stations like we had planned since I was dragging us behind.  Tia usually caught up with me after she had her cup of water.  I couldn't do the BLOKS like we were supposed to.  I didn't something new (which you aren't really supposed to do on race day).  I tried eating pretzels.  Yeah, it was dry and hard to eat while running and out of breath, but they expanded in my stomach and made me feel like something was in there and kept the water from sloshing around.  I probably only ate 3 or 4 pretzels..but it did the trick.  By mile 10 or 11, I was pooped.  We didn't walk through any intervals until just before we entered the stadium.  We had planned to start running at the 13 mile marker since it was a long way to run from the entrance all the way to the finish.  BUT...when we saw it..we just took off.  I started crying..I just couldn't believe that we had done it..it was over...we'd accomplished something together that was sooo huge for us!  Just before the finish, we crossed arms and ran across the finish line together..arm in arm.  We hugged and then Tia grabbed my arm and said "Let's go get our medals!"  I was GAME for THAT!!  We'd earned it!!  22 weeks of training filled with tears, sweat, and blood!  By golly we earned those medals!!  I really can't describe the joy that filled us...we were just so happy!

We crossed the finish line with a final time of 3:17:31!!!  A 15:05 min/mile pace!  We totally SMOKED our goal!!!
So...to conclude our race re-cap...here's a question that many have been asking.
"Will you guys continue to run?"

HECK YES!!!  We plan to continue to run and return to training for our next half marathon next year!  No idea which one at this time, but our journey will continue.  :D

We're Half Marathoners!!!!!!!!! (Part 2 of 3)

Holy crap!!  The big day is here! 

Finally, after 22 weeks of training (in the hottest summer in years I might add), it's finally time for Tia and I to shine!

I was up and at'em at 5AM.  I had everything layed out, so I decided to make sure I ate breakfast first.  I had 2 bagels and 1/2 a banana.  I quickly got ready and out the door.  My husband surprised me by taking the day off of work (which isn't allowed during the busy season..but his boss is a runner, so he was understanding).  Awesome surprise!  We were at Tia's a little after 6AM and on our way.  When Tia jumped in the car, I realized that she wasn't ready!  I guess we hadn't really talked about our coordinating outfits enough...so we got her ready on the way there.

Here is PINK PANTHER!!!

Her nails read "FIRST (heart) HALF".

I picked out a motivational quote for Tia, and she picked one out for me.  We color coordinated as well. We didn't have our markers with us Friday night, so we had to do them in the car on our way up...LOVELY hand writing ;)  Hers reads "The miracle isn't that you will finish.  The miracle is that you had the courage to START!"

And here I am...BLUE TIGRIS!!!

I did these fabulous nails all by myself!  :)

I wore my tiger socks that were turned into sleeves, so my quote had to go on my hand.  It reads "You don't have to be great to start...you just have to start to be GREAT!"

 

Here we are...bright and early...setting out to do something great!!!

 

Did I mention that it was 46* out that morning?!?!  Yeah...cold!

 My husband dropped us off on the side of the road and we walked up to the stadium while he parked the car.  As we were heading up there, we saw the opening to the stadium...where we'd be running through in less than 5 hours!  It was all very cool to see this early in the morning!

In the stadium, waiting for my husband to find us. 

All set up and ready for the show! 

Just looking at the finish line gave me chills!

We waited around in side of the stadium for a little while.  We saw some of the girls from the night before and wished them all luck.  We used the restroom before heading out to the corrals to look for some of the ladies we had met the night before that were doing the 4 mile.

Our 4 Milers!

To be continued..... 

We're Half Marathoners!!!!!! (Part 1 of 3)

Friday, the day before the BIG race!!!  A group of us girls car pooled up to Fort Wayne for packet pick-up and the health expo.  Our car full was extremely fun...to say the least!  All of our sides were hurting from all of the laughter by the time that we arrived.

By now, I am DEFINITELY nervous...it's officially here!

We're sooo excited!  This is what we've been training for!!

The expo. was a little disappointing to me, I guess it just wasn't what I was expecting.  We all walked around together visiting stations and such.  We checked in and picked up our packets....

This event was VERY well organized...I was very impressed and relieved.

Here is where we'll be entering the baseball field and heading toward the finish line!

We'd be crossing this FINISH in less than 24 hours!

Wells L was our tour guide and gave us all sorts of tips and advice to prep. us for the big race.

Here's our posy!  It was sooo much fun getting to know these girls.  :)

Well, we're all starving now, so it's time to say good night to Parkview Field and head to...

Yummy, yummy food!

 I think the girls are reviewing the coarse map here...always a good thing to do before a race!

Not the best quality picture...(taken on my phone)but here's Emilee and Kristen! 

Two awesome girls.

 

And here's our entire table.

 Wells L is getting her motivational quotes written on her arm by her partner "C".

By the end of the night, I was pooped.  But, I still had to paint my nails and pin my bib on my shirt for the next morning.  I think I got to bed some time around 11 or 12.  It took me a little while to fall asleep, but once I got there, I was out.



 This concludes Friday...pre-race day.

HOLY CRAP....IT'S HERE!!!!

It's finally here...the day that we've been training for.

I never would have guessed at how BUSY I'd be the week before the big race.  My days are packed!  Even the days after the race are booked full.  I have already pre-warned people that I might not be very mobile or fun after the race...but life has to go on.

I've been experiencing ankle pain for the past week or two.  We've been tapering, so it's not due to running or the new shoes..  I've been icing them....holy pooo!!!  Sink your feet into an ice cold bath and tell me it doesn't hurt.  I couldn't stand it.  I think 5 minutes was the most I was able to hold it in there.

I got flowers at work the other day from my sister with a card that said "Good luck Saturday Sis!  All your hard work is about to pay off.  I'm proud of you! Love, Sis".  Ummm...how can I lose with awesome supporters like her?!  I'm blessed.

So I don't really have a "sneak peak" at our outfits...but here's what I'm calling us...PINK PANTHER and BLUE TIGRIS.  Oh yeah baby...we're gonna look HOT! More to follow soon!

To Grandmother's House We GO!!

The official count down to our half marathon has begun!  10 more days!!!  Holy crapola!
Well, at least that means that we have also reached our tapering weeks.  Our longest run for the week is a mear 6 miles.  But to begin our week of tapering, we had a short 4 miles to go last night.  My sister, K, joined us for the first time! 

He we are, getting ready to start off.

My sister K is obviously a camera shy person. 

I can add this photo since she doesn't read my blog :p

I got another pic of K, she obviously wasn't paying attention.  :)

My sister has only recently joined the running world, so we took it easy.  She was also having shin splint pain, so we walked through several intervals.  Our half way mark was our Grandmother's house....a mear 2 miles away from the starting point...and look what happened to little A!!

Down for the count for the very first time during a run!!  Soooo precious!

Not a lot of sweat on this run.

Of course we had to stop and chit chat with our Grandmother since she was gracious enough to act as our pit stop and watering station.  :)  The run home was a little faster.  K took the stroller for a while and T and I took off running during our intervals.  We talked about our big upcoming race a little, but mostly, it was just a relaxed and run walk. 

Tonight is cross training, and I plan to work on my inner and outer thighs using an exercise band.  Not sure if there is a fancy name for it, but it's pictured below. 

 


Thursday is our long run for the week, so we'll see how it feels after working those fatty areas!!!

What's your favorite piece of exercise equipment?