capital city half marathon: may 7th, 2011

well the half marathon was almost 2 weeks ago now

{not three week like i thought.}

after the race i was reminded why i do half marathons.

they have panera, chocolate, champagne (although i didn't have any), and donotos....all for free.

just waiting for us at the finish line.

boo yah.

they capped it out at 10,000 i think.

there were SO many people.

but that's one of my favorite things about the columbus half.

i love the energy from all the people.

it really keeps me going and makes me feel like i am not alone.

it's really quite an experience to be going through that with these strangers.

there is a connection that is just so powerful--yet unspoken

amy did a fabulous job!

she pushed herself when she felt like stopping.

it was a pleasure to run it with her.

{here we are toward the very end}

there were several signs that we saw.  here are some of my favorites:

'humpty dumpty had wall issues, too'

'go mommy.  run like a mother'

and i'm always a ran of the 'run perfect stranger!'

there was another one but i forget. that's what you get for waiting 2 weeks to post about it.

at about mile 6 or 7 amy wanted to walk/run.

she would run fast for a minute then walk.

i did that a couple times with her but i'm not really the kind of person that can walk and run. 

cause once i stop and walk.....i don't want to start walking again!
i'm much better off to just push through it.

after a couple of times of the walk/run bit, i told amy to speed up and i will keep my pace. and then when she walked i would eventually come up to her and we would start running our pace together.

{there we go!}

there was one point where we were running past a young lady standing cheering--around mile 9 or 10.

she yelled 'you're going to be sore whether you walk or not....so don't walk!'

that really was great advice and kicked our run into gear and we didn't walk again.

i was thankful for that sign. my body was getting tired of stopping.

my official time was 2:10:59.

my goal was under 2:10. just barely made it!

that's exactly a 10 minute pace.

and that's exactly the pace i was aiming for when i knew my training wasn't as spot on as i hoped.

i had lots of energy at the end and sprinted into the finish.

and can i tell ya that i wasn't sore one bit when i finished.

i have NO clue why. cause i barely trained for the darn thing anyways.

but i was so glad that i was able to fully function after the race.

{whew! we're a little sweaty.}

i love big races, but one thing i hate is that there are so many people there.  but none are cheering for me.

when i want to quit, i just need someone i know to cheer me on and give me a little encouragement. 

well this race i was so blessed by 2 strangers.

one gentleman was at a water station.

i went to throw my water away and he was by the trashcan.

he leaned in and said 'keep going ann. you got this'.

or something to that effect.

i tell ya, those words mattered more than anything to me!

and i was too out of it to thank him at the moment. and i will always feel bad i didn't. cause i seriously needed that.

because running that long makes you more emotional, i wanted to break down and cry. 

i'm not a crying person but his words really touched me.

then, at the top of the hill toward the end, some random person looked at me and said:

'good job, ann!'

man! 2 people. i will never forget.

so if you're ever at a race, cheer people on by name!
{my name was on my tag...they weren't psychic or anything haha.}

{all done! and proud of our times.}

since neither of us ran with our cell phones, it took us forever to find amy's parents {they are the only cheerleaders we had!}

finally, i suggested we ask someone to use their phone.

so we asked his man about in his late to mid 50's.

he was so kind to let us use him phone.

while amy was on the phone, i was chatting with the guy.

he was from newark.....small world!

when we talked about races, i mentioned that i went to school in canton.

when he asked and i told him malone, he asked if i was a christian.

i said yes i was. and am assuming that he is too--although he never said either way.

 but how cool is that!

he knew what malone was said his relative taught at moody bible institute in chicago.

 

i tell ya, running with someone was SOO much better than running alone.

although it wasn't the fastest time, it was certainly the most enjoyable.

i am so glad i ran with amy and look forward to another race in the near future

{this was our second one together. my 1st was with her too, although we didn't run together the whole time.}

 

proof that i was enjoying myself.

it sometimes amazes me that a body can do what it does.

and it amazes me even more that people push their bodies to run 13.1 miles at one time.

don't know who came up with idea, but i am glad they did.

i feel so accomplished when i finish and feel so blessed that my body can do such amazing things!

i thoroughly look forward to my next half marathon!