Where to begin, this half marathon completely exceeded all of my expectations. I'm so happy that when Julia shared the details of the race earlier this Spring, we all decided to take the plunge together and do this run! And I'm especially thankful that during those early weeks of training when I was sobbing by the side of the road thinking I might just have to let this goal go because I really didn't think I had it in me, my hubby would not let me give up! I learned you just have to believe in yourself!!
All week leading up to the big day, we'd been watching the smoke air quality reports and anxiously awaiting updates from the race organizers. Due to fires in the nearby area, they were cautiously proceeding with organizing the event, with the condition that they would still possibly have to cancel as close to as an hour before gun time if the air quality was unhealthy. They had made it very clear all along their main concern was our well-being. Crossing our fingers the run was still a go, we arrived in Leavenworth Friday afternoon and after settling in our hotel decided to pick up our race bibs. Gah, this was getting real!!
Our friends showed up shortly after and we had a pasta feast (thanks Jules!) at their suite and talked about how we all were anxious, excited, nervous, and everything in between!! We went to bed early and in the wee early hours hubs and Bailey were still sleepy and myself, well nervous of course!
It was super cold that morning, but oh was it a beautiful sight. Leavenworth is an adorable little Bavarian German village surrounded by mountains everywhere. Definitely the perfect setting for our first half marathon.
There were some girls in the parking lot by us blastin' Beyonce jams from their car, and we couldn't help but get pumped up as well! And with that, we walked, skipped and hopped to the start line. Lots of people, equally excited and nervous as us!
There were some folks dressed up in lederhosen and women as beer maids - I kept thinking I wish we'd have thought of that!! At any rate, we got in our appropriate time groups with big smiles, we were ready to DO THIS!
There was virtually no cell reception and therefore I couldn't play my go-to Britney Spears Pandora station (don't judge, she's got some groovy tunes). Luckily I had Pink's Greatest Hits album on my phone, which turned out to be the perfect running soundtrack! We looped through neighborhoods, downtown, along the river, on trails all leading us back to where we started.
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| photo from www.brightroom.com |
Although Hubby has been a long-distance runner for many years, he stuck by me the entire time! He kept telling everyone beforehand, "I have to make sure she crosses that finish line, even if I have to carry her!!" This picture is awesome, look at him - a poster running child, he's like a freakin' gazelle! I hope my form looks this good one day.
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| photo from www.brightroom.com |
I was losing steam about mile 9 and just kept chewing on my honey stingers and sipping my water. It was definitely all mental from here on out and I just kept praying, "Lord, I have x miles behind me please see me to the end of this run." My mantra became "I can't walk, I won't walk any of this, I'm too close to give in." Mile 12.9 or so and at this point I was drained; so ready to be done but as soon as we saw the finish line in sight I had a new burst of energy and we full-on sprinted to the end!
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| photo from www.brightroom.com |
