Here It Is: My First -EVER- Race Report!!

I've been putting this off so that I could add race pics to my post...but the GO! St Louis site still doesn't have the pics up and I'm at work where I can't access my personal photos, so........you'll just have to wait for the pics. Sorry. ;)

Anyway, I DID IT!!!!! I RAN A HALF MARATHON!!!! WOOT!

I still have so much going through my mind, I don't even know if I can form complete sentences to describe the experience, so I think I'll just have to give the high(and low)lights:

**Standing at the starting line was one of the most overwhelming and exhilerating feelings I've ever felt in my life! There were 15,000 runners in this race and looking up and just seeing BLOCKS of mass people was just incredible. We were facing the Arch at the starting line and it was just such a surreal moment. Hearing the national anthem gave me goosebumbs and it is a moment I will never EVER forget!

**Right when the race started, they played Eye of the Tiger over the loud speakers, which totally made me LOL!

**I randomly saw a girl I went to high school with on my way to the starting line, which was odd since we were 6 hours away from our home town.

**It rained for the ENTIRE duration of the race. Luckily, it was in the 50's with no wind, so it wasn't cold...well, at least not until after the race was over. The 8 block walk back to the hotel afterwards was pretty miserable.

**The first few miles we were running near the interstate and all these cars and semis kept honking at us. That was really cool.

**There were porta potties at the starting line, but then not again until mile 4. We stopped to pee and since it was the first area along the race with bathrooms, the lines were HUGE. That added a good 10+ minutes to our time.

**The first 5 miles FLEW by! We saw our boys along the sidelines right around the 5th mile, so that made our day. They got some pics of us as we ran by.

**I saw a guy on my team at work in the crowd between mile 5 and 6.

**Mile 6 is where things started to get ugly. I had some power gel stuck in my throat that wanted to come up. I had to go behind a bush to make myself puke. We started to hit some hills that went on forever at this point.

**Between mile 9 and 10 we saw one of the Budweiser Clydesdales. It was so HUGE and pretty!

**At mile 10 they were giving out free GU.

**The crowds of people cheering everyone on was so amazing! Everyone was just so positive and full of energy - truly amazing!

**Right after the 10th mile, we all decided it was time to pull out our MP3 players....but none of them would play since they were all wet from the rain. :(

**After the MP3 player incident, we started to split up. One of the girls ran ahead, leaving just 2 of us.

**At mile 11 I had to drop an emergency shadoobie. Damn power gel... LOL

**At mile 12 I stopped and walked a bit with my girl friend as she was hurting really bad. That's when all the pain from my knees hit me - with full force! I gave her a pep talk and reminded her that we had only 1 mile to go and we needed to just power through.

**Just a few minutes later, we passed a guy on the side of the road with a boom box playing Eye of the Tiger - LOL again!

**At about 12 1/2 miles, there were 3 people along the course handing out cups of BEER - sa-weet!!! I grabbed me a beer and cracked up at the fact that I was running down the street in a damn marathon with a cup of beer! Hahahaha!!!!

**I spotted Randy in the crowd right before I crossed the finish line.

**I finished in under 3 hours, which I realize is a ridiculously slow time, but I did what I went there to do - FINISH! Official race time: 2:48:42.

**Did I mention that this was my first RACE ever?? Not just my first half marathon...but my first RACE! *unless you count "field day" in grade school* ;)

**I have a pretty medal that makes me feel like a bad ass.

So, there ya have it! In 5 weeks, I went from running 3 miles to running a half marathon. And I'm already thinking of what I want to run next.....BUT, I need to get back to my tri training first! I have just a little over 2 months until my tri and I've hardly swam at all lately.

Anyway, that's it for my first official race report. Pics to come soon!!! :)


Sunday, April 19, 2009: 13.1 mile run