Computer issues

It has been awhile since I posted because my computer likes to crash every time I post a picture that is too big and I have not yet figured out the ins and outs of my wonderful (insert sarcasm here) new Internet service provider since moving to Coventry. Ugh. At any rate, I miss my blogging world, and have had several things I've wanted to blog about but now seem like old news. What can you do? Hopefully I will be back up and running soon....

I survived the Hartford Half Marathon

Pre race: At this point I'm having major second thoughts

"What I have gotten myself into?!"

The sea of people we ran with

Lisa and I at mile 6 - FEELING GOOD!

Two of the cutest fans ever!


My most dedicated fans!

Working hard, feeling good

Post race snaggle. I came in place #1808 but I'm still a winner because my medal tells me so!

This past Saturday I completed (please note the word "completed") a half marathon. It was the first time I have ever ran that far in my life - 13.1 miles or in Canadian terms that's about 21 kilometers. I've been training since July for this race in Hartford and my two longest distance runs were 9.5 miles and 12 miles so I wasn't positive how I would fare at the race. But I finished, and I felt pretty darn good the majority of the time. There were about 12,000 runners and about 5,000 alone running the half marathon with us!

I ran with my eldest sister, Lisa and we hung together for about the first 9.5 miles, but at this point my legs decided that they really didn't want to go any further. I wanted nothing more than to stop and stretch, but I refused and pushed on. My sister was feeling great so I told her to go on and that I'd see her at the finish line. Then at mile 11 I was told by two enthusiastic volunteers "One more mile, one more mile!" Sweet, this was just the incentive I needed to finish strong so I kicked it into high gear. But low and behold, 1 mile further I was told by another set of volunteers "One more mile, one more mile!" And so I had two choices - to go back to that first set of orange jacket volunteers and kick them in the knee caps for being VERY misinformed, or to press on and keep up the faster pace that my legs were taking me. Deciding that option one was probably counter-productive, I kept on and finished with a time of 2:06, a minute behind Lisa. My last two miles were my fastest miles of the race so maybe the confusion worked to my advantage in the end anyway. And I finished way under my goal of 2:20!

The race was so much fun; the weather was PERFECT and the course was really cool. We ran on the highway, under tunnels, through the city, through the ghetto, along the river - the race seemed more like a few minutes than a couple of hours. Not long after the race, Lisa and I were already using phrases like "next time" and "next year".

We had an awesome organic lunch after the race provided for us along with full body massages if we wanted. But one thing I did learn - jumping in a car immediately after running a half marathon to drive to Canada for 9 hours is a bad, BAD idea! OUCH! I could barely walk for two days!

Chris, Juliet, and Allison also came out to support us. It was so awesome to see their smiling faces in the crowd shouting "Way to go, Mom!" They moved around on the course and got to see us three times throughout the race! Can't wait for next year! Anyone else want to join? :)