Sunday, April 25, 2010

OKC Half Marathon

Oh my soul. Today, I ran another half marathon. First I will say this: this was the most humbling and moving race I've done. It was such an honor to run with men and women who knew and loved the people who died in the OKC bombing in 1995. Truly humbling.

(After the race was over, we stopped my the memorial. There were medals and bibs tied to chairs. A lot of runners had "In Memory Of" bibs on. It was really emotional.)

This was the 10th anniversary marathon for the memorial. This year marked the 15th anniversary of the bombing. The event was awesome! The course was really great. There were tons of residents along the route cheering runners on, holding up humorus signs (my favorites: "release your inner Kenyan" and "what? the free beer at the end is almost gone?"). The sponsers of the race had really great water stations. Plus, the post race party was awesome. Free burgers, beer and massages. I, however, did not partake in any of that. I grabbed half of a bagel, some oranges and water. I'm so lame. Maybe the best race I've run to date (and my friends, I've run a lot of races).

You should know that I've got a cold. Not just any cold. It's the "welcome to Oklahoma" cold that people get when they move here. Here is my lesson of the day/note to you: Don't run when you have a severe head cold and cough. Just don't do it. Also, you should know that I didn't train for this race in the slighest. I ran a 10k on April 3rd and ran a few short runs (3 miles-ish) since then. Someday, I'm going to train the right way for a half marathon!

There were 22,500 runners this year. And please know that if there were that many runners, the crowd was at least that size! Patrick and I couldn't find one another until I crossed the finish line. Even then, it took me 15 minutes to find him. Like I said, the course was really good and really fun.

(The crowd and the runners!)

I ran this half marathon much better than the last and only walked for about four (and a half) minutes total. BUT I did need to pee like crazy and that cut out a solid 3 minutes while I waited in line and did my thing. I didn't hit a wall, if you will, until about mile 9.5, which I think it pretty good. The sad thing about hitting the wall is that my ipod died about then, too. The last three miles were tough! At this point I had completely given up on breathing out of my nose and just kept my mouth open the whole time. The wind is crazy down here. I almost got blown away once and that was enough to keep me from getting on the outside of the pack the rest of the race.

At mile 12, I reminded myself I could do anything for a mile. Although, I was not convinced because I was certain that my head, or left knee, would explode before I reached the finish line. Then, I saw it! The finish line!!! I pushed myself and ran as fast as I could. I just wanted to be done. I finished in 2:25:00, officially. This is two and a half minutes slower than my last half, but with my current circumstances I'll consider it a success!


Near the finish line. I'm so exhausted. This is the first time I saw P since 6:00am (the race started at 6:30am). I was so excited to see him!

I may have been all smiles....
but this is how I felt.

Oh man, I love these guys! They are SO supportive of me and I couldn't be any more thankful for them!
Me and the babe!You can't keep this cool cat confined. He needs to move. Seriously. That's all he does, all the time. Move, move, move!
Just a little creativity...

3 comments:

mama cindy said...

You are amazing! Love that the "boys" are so supportive. :) Love the picture of Patrick and Benjamin, Kodak moment. Congratulations Princess!!

Baby Hancock said...

SUPER proud of you...you're my running hero! :-)

Anonymous said...

Great job! You are awesome!
Shannon