My Half Marathon

I ran the Nationwide Children's Half Marathon this morning.  It was a crowded and chilly start.  These first two pictures were taken in my corral by the runner standing next to me.  The marathon started at 7:30, but the elite runners began first and then the rest of us slowly made our way to the start line.  It took almost 15 minutes for me to even get started because there were 18,000 runners crowding the street.  It didn't matter though, as my official time didn't begin until my race chip went across the start line.

Matthew dropped me off as close as he could and then he went to park and wait with the kids.  He was able to stay in the van where the kids would be warm and able to watch movies or sleep because he could track my progress on his phone with my racing chip on the backside of my bib number.  Once he saw that I was getting close to the finish, he got all the kids out and to the finish line so they could cheer for me.

Alexa is so beautiful!
The rest of these pictures are ones that Matt took while waiting for me.

Staying warm in the stroller

All bundled up

It's Spiderman!

Anxiously waiting for Mommy to finish

Tysen's getting sleepy!  Big yawn

Tysen wouldn't keep his Elmo hat on, so Daddy put it on Bowen.

I finished!  Because of the mass amounts of people in this small space (18,000 runners plus all the spectators), it would have been extremely difficult to find each other.  Thank goodness I had my cell phone with me and we had made a plan!

Gavin and Alexa came running when they spotted me.  It was really special to have my whole family there.

Yes, there is a smile on my face!  I actually felt really great for the whole race, especially once it was over!  It was a great day.  The temperature was cool, but not too cold.  I felt strong and didn't walk at all (which was one of my goals) and best of all, I ran it faster than ever before!  My official finishing time was 2 hours and 28 minutes.  I felt pretty awesome.

Hugs from my kids are the best

   

 

Sharing my banana with Tysen

A close-up of my medal

My wonderful family
Thank you for your support!

This is a short video at the start of the marathon.  As you can see, the street was so congested with runners.  The race had actually started more than 10 minutes before I filmed this, but it took that long to move forward to the start line.  I enjoyed the live bands along the route.  Mayor Mike Coleman is waving to all the runners from a stage to the right.