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The
race morning dawned REALLY early! We left the house at 5 a.m., because the race
was being held a good distance from our house. Thankfully, we arrived on time,
picked up our packets, hit the restrooms, and had ample time to stretch out.
Photo
Credit: Roma.
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The
guy that talked us into running the race is a friend of ours who works with my
Dad. Mr. P has become quite the seasoned half-marathoner this past year. This
was his 8th one!
Photo
Credit: Betsy
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While
we raced, the rest of the family enjoyed the park and fed the ducks at the
lake.
Photo
Credit: Roma.
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The race course was a lot harder than I
expected. The four of us stayed together until about the 3 mile point. Ben and
I pulled ahead of the guys, and the two of us leap-frogged for awhile (he’d
pull ahead, then I’d pull ahead, etc.) At mile 4, we switched from running
through neighborhoods to running on a gravel path through the wetlands
surrounding the lake. This was when things got hard!
Around mile 6, I was in the lead by myself.
At mile 8, we ran in neighborhoods again for about a mile and a half before
returning to the dirt track. I had done the first few miles of the race too
fast, and then started to burn out towards the middle. It was extremely humid,
and quite warm for this time of year. And running on gravel versus pavement
tires your body out much faster because it’s working harder.
At mile 9, I was still hoping I’d get my goal
time of 2:05 to 2:07. When I hit mile 12 at 2:05, I almost started crying. I
was running as hard as I could, and having a hard time breathing.
I crossed the finish line in 2:12 and
promptly collapsed, stomach churning with cramps from the lack of oxygen. Even
though I hadn’t finished in the time I wanted, I was grateful that 1) I
finished, 2) I didn’t get injured, and 3) I beat all the guys. J
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Ben,
Dad, and Mr. P crossed the finish line and we all reunited with the families
for some photos.
Photo
Credit: Betsy.
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We
cooled down, stretched out, and grabbed some food. We decided to hang around
for the awards ceremony. When they posted the times, Ben and I were pleasantly
surprised to find out we had both placed second in our age groups! So we both
got medals!
Photo
Credit: Betsy.
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On our way home, we stopped at Wendy’s for a
post-race meal. Even though none of us did as well as we had hoped, we had lots
of fun doing it together! And now we have a good reason to train for another
half marathon . . . J
WOW! I think I would die if I ran that much- 3 miles is the most I'll do (unless forced ;)! Y'all did a great job though! :) Caleb just ran a 7 mile obstacle-course race called the Civilian Military Combine (http://www.civilianmilitarycombine.com/). He ran it with two friends of ours and he did pretty well! You'd have to ask him about all the numbers....the winning time was something like 1 hour and 11 min. and his time was 1 hour 44 min. not bad for his first obstacle-course race! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope y'all have a blessed day!
In Christ,
Alexis
Ps- Way to beat all the guys, Bianca! ;)
You Rock Bianca! So glad you all had such a great time running your first 1/2 marathon. High fives to Mark & Ben too :-D
ReplyDeleteI used to think the same thing, Alexis! :-) But that's why you train for it. That race Caleb did sounds pretty intense! Ben wants to do something like that. I'm perfectly content to just run with no obstacles. :-)
ReplyDelete~Bianca
Thanks, Aunt Debbie! :-) It was a great race!
ReplyDelete~Bianca