I slept terribly Saturday night as I knew my alarm was going to go off at 4:00am, and I had so many thoughts racing through my head. I woke up on my own at 3:30am, made myself some coffee and ate a bowl of cereal with a banana. I got dressed in the dark as Andy and Red slept away. My friend, Carrie, picked me up at 5:00am and then we swung by Amy and Kevin's to pick them up. Carrie, the only experienced marathoner, tried to calm our nerves and we had some good laughs which helped.
We arrived about 30 minutes before race time and settled into our corrals. Carrie insisted that she run with me the whole time even though she usually runs an 8 min/mile. I had been planning on running with the 2:45 pace group, but we decided to do our own thing instead. The race began promptly at 6:30am. We crossed the start line around 6:45am and we were on our way! I felt good, really good and we had a good pace. We were passing all kinds of people.
The course was really neat and we passed through all kinds of neighborhoods. I was feeling great until about mile 7 when both of my knees started to act up. We stopped to stretch a few times, but kept on running. I didn't want the 2:45 pace group to pass us! Around mile 8 we saw my sister, Iida, and her husband Alex which was a total surprise to me! I had no idea that they were coming down and it was so special to see them. At mile 10, my ankles and the pads of my feet started to hurt, but we kept on running! Thanks to Carrie :) At mile 11 near Soldier Field, we saw Iida and Alex again which was really fun. And then at mile 12, we saw my mom, Andy, my brother Harris and his girlfriend Karen cheering us on. One more mile to go!! The last mile felt like forever and when saw the finish line we sped up a little. I crossed the finish line at exactly
2 hours, 36 minutes, 32 seconds.
We stocked up on Popsicles, bananas, water and then met up with Amy, Kevin and my family for an ice cold beer. We also took a bunch of pictures (see below).
It was an amazing race and I had such an awesome running partner. I am so appreciative and thankful for all the support that my family and friends have given me. I could not have done it without all of them! I still cannot believe I ran 13.1 miles without walking and finished better than I expected. I'm just thinking back to January when I started running and I was proud of myself when I finished 2 miles and then 3 miles... who ever thought I could ever run 13.1 miles? It's amazing what you can train your body to do.
I'm going to take a little hiatus from running and do more cross-training. My body is now used to running so I have to change up my routine. I still plan on running 2 days a week as I really do enjoy it, but I want to focus on intervals and speed training.
Pictures:
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| Carrie, me and Amy pre-race |
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| Carrie, Amy, me and Kevin post-race! |
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| Andy & me post-race at Buckingham Fountain |
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| Right around mile 12 |
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| Picture from the start line |
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| My medal!! |
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| This carried my through the race. |
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| Post-race Epsom salt bath to relieve my aches and pains. |
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!
My results:
| Pace | 5 Km | 10 Km | 10 Mile | ChipTime | ClockTime | |||||||||||||
| 11:57 | 38:36 | 1:13:09 | 1:59:07 | 02:36:32 | 02:53:58 |
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