My Simple Life: Virginia Half Marathon

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Virginia Half Marathon

I'm not the best or fastest runner...I'm actually the slowest runner in my family, but I still enjoy getting out with the family and participating in all of the races. When I first heard that all of my dad's brothers and sisters were doing the Virgina half or full marathon and the wives and some of the kids were also signing up, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to join! 1. It gave me an excuse to see all the family 2. I've never been to the east coast and I've always wanted to 3. It gave me something to train for and 4. I've always said I would do at least one half marathon.

After months and months of training the day finally came for mom, dad and I to hop on a plane and fly across the country to see everyone and run our race. Our first flight was delayed due to mechanical problems which made us miss our next flight in Michigan by a matter of seconds. Dad literally saw the guy close the door to the jetway. Because of that we had to sit in the airport for 4 hours and didn't get to Virginia until after midnight. We were all exhausted since we had literally spent the whole day traveling. Needless to say we slept in the next day and enjoyed not having to get up for work.

The day of the race was an early morning. We were all up around 4 for us to get to the race on time.
It was about 30 degrees so needless to say we were all bundled up before the race trying to stay warm. Luckily it started warming up right as the race started. By the first mile I had gotten rid of my jacket and my long sleeve shirt was around my waist.

The race ended up being so much more fun than I could ever imagine. In the first 3-4 miles everyone in my coral was passing me, but by mile 6 and 7 I was passing everyone who started out too fast. I felt amazing and didn't stop once until a little after mile 10. At mile 10 my knees were done and I had to walk a little bit. The next 2 miles were a mental game for me because of how much my knees were killing me. The last mile there were tons of people lining the course, it was down hill and seeing my family really helped. I would explain my last mile as a Runners High. I forgot about my knees and my last mile I did in an 8:45, which is not a pace I normally run. I was loving life as I crossed the finish line! I wanted to finish the race in about 2 hours and 30 minutes and I was so excited to cross the finish line in 2 hours and 20 minutes. I think next half marathon I can get a little more time off as long as I keep up the training.