Thirteen Point Freakin' One!

Distance:   13 Point Freakin 1!

Time:  2:23:08

Wow.  What an amazing experience.  Running the Rock n Roll St. Louis Half Marathon was so much fun, it's hard to wrap my brain around everything I want to say about it!

We headed up to St. Louis the day before the race for the Expo and packet pick up.  The Expo was a bit overwhelming because it was so crowded and a bit confusing.  There were a total of 5 us racing and we all decided to try signing up with a pace team to help us during the race.  Leah, Jaime and I signed up with the 2:20, which I thought would be good for me.  I wasn't sure I could come in at the time, but I felt I was closer to 2:20, than 2:30, which was my initial goal when I started training.  I figured that if I was unable to keep up with Leah and Jaime, at least I would have the pace team to distract me. 

That night after we settled into the hotel room, I was so nervous!  I pulled out all my clothes, got my shoes ready, chattered on and on to Tim-- which didn't really help him much because he was nervous about his first Full Marathon, too!  I'm guessing that we only got maybe 4 hours of sleep that night.  Ridiculous!

Tim and I woke up around 4am and stayed in bed talking.  We were so restless and nervous!  We were pretty wired and just waiting for the alarm to go off.  At 5am, "Born to Run" came blaring out of Tim's cell phone.  It was time to get up and get going. 

After a small breakfast, we met up with everyone at the lobby.  I was happy to see that my sister, Laura, was able to join us to see us take off!  We headed towards the start line looking for Tracy and Jaime.  As we got closer, we could hear the music and see the thousands of people already in the corrals.  I had a brief moment of panic-- what the heck was I doing??!?!? 

I really didn't want to leave Tim.  I knew he was nervous and I just wanted to stay with him as long as I could.  Maybe I just needed him, too.  Either way, at a certain point it was time to go our separate ways.  The corral wait wasn't too bad.  We found our pace team easily and they had giant beach balls, music, etc.  Heck, we even saw a smurf while waiting!  It was a nice distraction before the start.  At one point, they played "Beautiful Day" by U2.  Again, I thought of Tim because this is one of his go to songs for running.  When they released corral 7, I cheered him on and hoped he would have a great run!

So, Tim's corral was released, then Tracy's.  Then, corral 13!  I was pumped at this point and just wanted to get moving.  We moved up to the start line and were released-- my first half marathon had begun!

I stayed with Jaime and Leah for the first couple of miles.   It was difficult to stay with them because of all the people and the course had so many turns.  We were way ahead of the pace team, so I figured I would just stick with them as long as I could and then get with the pace team at some point.  I knew that Jaime and Leah were going to smoke the 2:20 time, so I just found a comfortable pace and enjoyed the atmosphere-- which was fantastic!  I have never had so much fun during a race.  All the cheerleaders and signs were great distractions and really motivating.  It is so amazing that all these people came out to cheer on a bunch of crazy runners so early on a Sunday morning! 

Some of my favorite signs:

Chaff Now, Brag Later
Run Like a Kenyon
Worst. Parade. Ever.
I don't know you, but I believe in you!
Toenails are overrated. 
Just keeping swimming, swimming, swimming (My favorite- I hope Jaime saw it!)

Some of favorite cheerleaders/bands, etc.:

The Mimes cracked me up!
The guy that was hitting a cooking pot with a spoon (I saw him at 2 different spots on the route!)
The star-shaped arch that I ran through and the girls snapping photos.
The little kids that gave me high fives.  (Awesome.)
The pirates at one of the water stations.
The guys giving out beer at mile 11.
The band near the end playing "Don't Stop Believing" right before I had to go up one more hill!

I could go on and on about things I saw during the race.  There was so much inspiration all around me that it was almost overwhelming.  One lady had a shirt on that said it was her first half marathon after beating cancer.  I saw numerous shirts that said they were running for someone.  Whenever I felt tired or questioned my sanity, I would look up and see a sign or a shirt that would remind that I just needed to keep on going. 

A little bit after mile 7, Leah suddenly appeared at my side.  She was having issues with her knee and told Jaime to go on ahead.  I was happy to have some company at that point because I was starting to lose the pace team.  We continued on together, walking the water stations (which were like Splashin' Safari-- water going everywhere!) and kept one another motivated.  At one point, I was afraid we were being passed by the the 2:30 pace team, but was happy to see that it was the other 2:20 team.  I felt confident that I would be in between the two times.  At mile 12, I decided I had to just push through and get that race over with!  The band that was playing right before the last hill was blaring "Don't Stop Believing."  Talk about perfect timing!  I got up that last hill and saw the finish line.   Then, I heard Tim's parents cheering from the sidelines.  It was awesome.   I had done it.  I had ran thirteen point freakin' one miles and still had a smile on my face! 

I crossed the finished line and turned to watch Leah come in.  That girl had a fire in her eyes.  I could tell her knee was hurting her, but she wasn't about to let it beat her!  I was cheesing so big when we got our medals.  Seriously, I know it's silly, but that medal meant so much to me.  I was just so darn proud of myself!  Somehow in the madness, we were able to find Tracy-- she  broke her previous time and came in at 2:10!  At this point, we couldn't find Jaime, but we knew she had to be around somewhere.  We eventually found her when we met up with everyone and that girl rocked that half in 2:17!  We were all so pumped from our accomplishment!

It was now time to wait for Tim to finish.  His mom had been getting text updates and we knew he was getting close.  We went over to the gates near the finish line to watch folks come in.  I saw some amazing runners that day.  Some people came in looking tired, but strong.  Others were barely moving.  I was so worried for Tim.  I was just hoping that he had a good race.  When we finally saw him, I got teary-eyed.  He had worked so hard for this.  Getting up at 4am for training runs in the summer.  Running in rain, heat, etc.  He ended up finishing his first marathon in 4:04:28.  I am so proud of him! 

It really was one of the most fantastic days ever.  Seriously, I wouldn't have wanted my first half marathon to go any other way.  To be so lucky to be able to do it with some awesome ladies that are not only family, but super awesome friends, was just a bonus.  Seeing Tim accomplish a goal that less than 1% of the population even attempt was amazing.  Best.  Parade.  Ever. 

So, now what?  Well, I think Jaime has it all planned out for us!  :)  I cannot wait to run another half marathon.  It was so much fun!  Who would have thought I would have reached the point that I actually found running to be so much fun?  Sure, training runs aren't always great, but all that hard work really does pay off in the end.  And I really like the the big medal!!!  :)

Thanks for everyone that read this blog and sent me well wishes, etc.  Big time thank you to Tim's family for coming out and cheering us on--  it was great to see you all at the finish line!  Tracy's girls made us all awesome signs that I will keep forever!  Also, thanks to Laura for being a crazy person and coming to the race after traveling the day before.  I feel so blessed to have such wonderful folks supporting me-  thank you so much!