Country Music Marathon 2009

I cant believe that after all of the training, that I am now able to blog about my first 1/2 marathon. It seemed like it would never get here and now I cant believe that is all over. It was an incredible experience and one that I will never forget, and I am not just talking about the race itself. The time spent training with the other six girls helped form friendships and we shared so much together during the past 4 months. The 4:30 early morning runs, not sleeping in on Saturday since January, sore muscles, tendinitis, rain, freezing temperatures...it was all worth it
in the end. I am so glad that I decided to do this with them. It hadnt been a goal of mine and I started running on my own before Christmas to lose weight (which as I said before I have lost none...uggghh!) and then decided to join them for their early morning runs so I could have some motivation to push myself beyond the 2 miles that I was already doing. I jumped to 5 miles and figured I might as well train for the race too if I was going to do all of the work with them. I then joined Fleet Feet and really enjoyed those runs as well. Yes, it was not the greatest thing having to get up at 6 o clock every Saturday but once I was at home I was so ready to start my day! I have accomplished so much more around the house and I know it is from my new energy that was from the running. I feel fantastic and even though I am so frustrated because I am not losing the weight, it is all worth it to feel this good. I am afraid to say it (knock on coffee table) but I have not been sick all winter and have had NO ALLERGIES this spring which is unheard of for me! I usually get 3-5 sinus infections this time of year. So, if running keeps the allergies away...I am on it! I hope to do some more 5K-10K's this year since I dont want all of this training to go to waste, but probably no more 1/2 marathons for a while.

The race was an incredible experience and everything that they say about the adrenaline is totally true! The first few miles are always the hardest for me and it was so much easier looking around and hearing the bands, and people holding signs, passing out water, oranges, spraying us with water...it was great! I also got to see some pretty interesting things on the course as well... a man with a top hat, suit, and table with wine on the side of the road, hula guy running in flip flops, and a man dressed as a bear mascot running beside me (interested to know if he finished or not!).

I took a disposable camera with me for the first part of the run and passed it off to Brad for the remainder of the race. Amanda took the rest of the pictures. Thank you girl!

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