Saturday, May 21, 2011

6. Run a half marathon


About two years ago, I started jogging.  Then last year Jenny and I signed up for our first race and loved the feeling when it was complete. 

We talked about several different 1/2 marathons... The princess one at Disney (seriously, how cool is it to run through Cinderella's Castle???)... One in Chicago... But with me being from Indianapolis, that was the one I wanted to do.  So I sent Jenny the info and a few days later we both signed up.  Then, we told a few friends we were signing up and Mandee, Kim and Nick joined in the obsurdity fun.

Over the winter, we started training.  I knocked #24 off my list (Join a Gym) and Jenny and I ran in the snow, in the cold, in the dark, and on our treadmills (another purchase I made.)  Spring sprung.  Mandee put us all to shame by sticking to her training schedule 100%, Kim moved cross country and cancelled, and Nick moved 6 hours away, eventually backing out too.  And Jenny and I kept running.

Then, we hit mid-April and pure fright set in.  But we ordered our matching shirts, went on a few more long runs, and headed to Indianapolis the night before the race.

Here goes nothing!
Me, Jenny and Mandee, right before the start.  Our shirts said it all. 

 The starting line... Did I mention this is the largest 1/2 in the US?  We ran with 35,000 of our closest friends.

An action shot... Proof we actually ran.  And no, I don't usually run with my thumbs up, that was all for the picture.

Me (and Mandee) going across the famous Yard of Bricks at the 500.  Next time I'll try something cooler than a thumbs up.

And, finally, the finish line.  I actually finished in under three hours but with 35,000 participants we didn't even cross the start line until almost 20 minutes after the gun went off.  And, yes, that's a really old guy next to me.  I totally beat him too.  What's it to you?

Crossing this off my list was a pretty big deal to me.  I am NOT a runner, as I've said before.  I'm much more of a Jog-Shuffle-Gag-er.  I run extremely slowly, proved by being passed in Turn 1 of the 500 track by a guy in a Gumby costume.  And the time commitment it took to train took a huge toll on my family, with Jay majorly picking up the slack when I had long runs or needed to head to the gym.

But, knowing that less than 1% of the population did what we did on May 7th? 

Totally priceless.

1 comment:

Patricia said...

AWESOME Steph! So proud of you!

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