Half Marathon and Pictures

Woke up at 4:00am to get ready for the day. Got ready, ate breakfast and downed plenty of water. We had a bit of a drive to get there so we had to leave super early. We arrived at the parking garage at 6:30am, but had to wait in a Loooooog line in order to actually get in and parked. Finally got parked and down to the packet pickup area.

Here I am getting my packet, and directions of where to pick up my chip-timer and where to go for the actual race.

I got my chip-timer tied onto my shoe, then we walked down to where the race site was. When we got close I told Stephen I needed to find the potty, before it got to close to start time. We then saw an extremely long line...of course, with any 'mostly women' event, you are going to have a long line for the port-a-potty, no matter how many they have available. So I got in line. That's me, there at the very end.

I was listening, for them to tell us to line up, and also looking for the pace-setter I wanted to follow. They had men running as pace-setters. They had to wear skirts! LOL! They also held up signs with their pace, I got behind the one with the 1:55 pace.

Let's play "where's Waldo". Can you find me? Peek-a-boo!

Here I am! :-)

And we're off! See ya'll in a few hours!

While I was running Stephen took the boys out for breakfast. They had a great time!

When they came back they walked around the water area, and Daddy took their picture.

The race itself was much harder than the last one. I thought maybe it was just because I was running faster. I stayed with the 1:55 group until about mile 5. The aid stations weren't doing a very good job and I kept having the stop and step around people to get water. Then one time there was a young man holding out a cup and I said "water?" and he nodded so I grabbed it. Nope, it was Gatorade. I felt sick after that one sip. For a few miles my stomach was hurting, and I thought I was going to puke. But I just kept going.

Around mile 8, the original pace setter for the 1:55 came up behind me and was running beside me. I pulled one of my ear buds out and told him I'd been trying to catch back up to him for miles. He said he had fell out to go to the bathroom and the other pacesetter took over for him. He had been running a 7 1/2 min mile trying to catch back up to them but hadn't been able to. He asked me what my personal goal time was. I told him I'd ran my last (and first) half-marathon in 1:59:19 and that was in the pouring rain, hail, and thunder/lightening. I was hoping to do that well again, but this run was feeling much harder than that one. He said it was probably the high humidity. The air just felt thick. So we talked some about races, and then he told me he was going to continue to run with me and make sure I got myself a new Personal Record. Which was fine by me! I needed someone to run with me, and help me keep going. I was getting very tired, and still felt sorta woozy and sick. I just kept those legs moving and trying to keep up with him. On the last mile, he said when we rounded the corner we were going to pick up the pace and finish strong. Um...I am picking up the pace! LOL! I said "K". I was really whooped at this point and wanted nothing more than to stop and just lay down and die. LOL! But we kept going. Once we rounded that last corner and were on the home stretch, there were people everywhere, cheering. I broke out into a cold sweat and really thought i was either going to throw up or pass out. But he kept yelling "come on Kandy" "come on!" "pick it up!" "You can do it"...so I put my other ear bud back in so I couldn't hear him! LOL!!!! It was everything I had in me just to keep moving, much less sprint it out. I did try to pick up even more though right before the finish line. He was clapping and cheering me right on through it. Then gave me a high-five at the end and told me good job, and succeeded at setting a New Personal Record for me. 1:56:30something. I shaved 3 minutes off of my time! Wow! I've never felt so exhilarated and exhausted all at the same time. LOL!

I then saw my handsome husband and sweet baby boys rushing toward me, right after a young man handed me my finishers metal. It was such blessing to them and their huge smiles! At this point a woman rushed over to me and said "let us get your picture with your finishers metal". I held up my finger to tell her I needed a minute. She laughed and said "okay, after you catch your breath". LOL! When I could finally breathe again, I had my picture taken, then found me a bottle of water and downed it. Stephen then got me another bottle of water while I was taking off my shoe. At about mile 3 I thought I had a rock in my shoe, but wasn't going to stop....when I removed my shoe I realized it was the toe seam in my sock, which had somehow worked it's was under the side of my big toe. I straightened it up and it felt 100% better. Then I took the chip timer off of my other shoe and Stephen turned it in for me.

Here I am coming up to the finish line, and that's the pace-setter (there in orange and pink), clapping and cheering me on. God always seems to put the right people in the right place at the right time. I wouldn't have made that time, if he hadn't been running with me for those last 5 miles.


Crossing the finish line!!!! Woo-Hoooo!!!! Ive never been so relieved! LOL!



I made it! I didn't die, or puke, or pass out! Yea!!!!! LOL!!

Getting my photo taken, with my finisher's metal.

Ahhhh, what a relief it is to be done....


On our way back to the car, we stopped and let the boys watch some ducks swimming in the water.

Daddy took our picture.


Then Levi took our picture. I'm so thankful to my husband, for sacrificing his sleep (he'd worked Saturday night, and only got a few hours of sleep before we had to leave for the race) all so he could take care of our boys and cheer me on. His support means the world to me. :-)

What a GREAT Day!!!!!

Next race, this Saturday. Thankfully it's only a 10K. Yea!!! LOL!!!!