We did it!

Sunday, October 18, 2009, Jacklynn Walters and I completed our first half marathon in Hays, Kansas! 13.1 miles of the sounds of feet pounding on pavement, deep and shallow breathing, the thud-thud of my heart beat, wind blowing intensely against us, off and on conversation, and at times mindless running. At different times during the run I would realize that I had no idea what I had been thinking about. That sounds a little strange, I'm sure, but that's the truth. It was wonderful.

My time was 2:04:38 which is 9.49 minutes/mile. Jacklynn guessed that we might run it in about 2:10 which is just about a 10 minute mile. This makes sense going off of our long run times. I don't know where I finished overall, or even for my age group. Let me assure everyone that I probably was not in the top 10 in my age group. When I find out I will update.

The last mile I ran by myself. It was probably my favorite mile and not because it was my last. As I ran I saw mile 13 spray painted on the ground and I was overwhelmed with thankfullness. I thanked the Lord for helping me get so far. I also thanked Him that the run was almost over. I almost became emotional as I knew it was coming to an end. I was so close and I was giving it my all. I didn't sprint to the finish, but I definitely picked up the pace. That mile was my fastest mile, and that is probably because it was at the end and I knew I could go ahead and exert my extra energy. After I crossed the finish line I did a little jogging in place. One of the guys who had run asked me how I was still moving. I told him I didn't think I could stop. Not yet at least.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I am going to sign up for another half that will take place on November 22. I hope to finish it around the same time if not a little faster. My good friend Maeret is planning on joining me this time. Jacklynn won't be running this one with me which is a little sad, but completely understandable. The last few long runs we went on her knee would start hurting really bad around mile 7. This happened on Sunday but she didn't stop. She did great! I am very proud of her. Without her I wouldn't have made it this far. She has given me more motivation and encouragement than she knows. Thank you so much my dear friend.

Thank you to Lauren, Jess, Leah, Maason, Matt, Cristina, Cass, and everyone (I apologize if I forgot you) for the special gifts for our first run. I was (am) deeply touched that you all thought about us, wrote us notes, and provided us with goodies. Thank you for supporting me with encouraging words and listening to me talk about running. : )

Race Results from my two 5k's a couple of weeks ago:
Jared Coones: 10.10.09. In my age group (20-24) I finished 5th with a time of 25 min 39 sec. Overall I was 217 out of 3,256 (over half were students from the Olathe schools)
Abby's Run: 10.11.09. In my age group (20-24) I finished 16th with a time of 30 min. 35 sec. Overall I was 331 out of 1,047.