I ran 13.1 miles!

Saturday was quite the day! I ran the half marathon in 1 hour oops!, 2 hours 16 minutes and 34 seconds. I got 13,977th place.  I'm still de-compressing everything that happened. We woke up at 5am to get ready and head down town. Here's the short version:

Mile by mile emotions:

This shows my pace during the race.
Red zones are water stations.

Coral T: I was way back in coral T. That means I was towards the back of the pack! My main though was, "Wow. In a nation that is suffering an obesity epidemic, I'm in a crowd of 35,000 people who are walking or running 13.1 miles today! How cool is that?!?"

Miles 1-3: Crowded. Crowded. Crowded. I was totally jazzed though.

Miles 4-6: Really? Does every 12 year old in Indy have a rock band?

Mile 7: Running onto the Indy 500 track was pretty cool. Running around the track was just ok. It's just a really long lap.

Mile 8: At least I was heading back to the finish line!

Mile 9: Oh, this kind of hurts. 

This is the t-shirt I wore
during the race.

Mile 10: Officially the longest I've ever run. Didn't know if I could make it that far, but I did. I felt good and almost wondered if I was experiencing "runner's high."

Mile 11: Not so bad. Maybe I could do this again.

Mile 12. Are we there yet? This hurts pretty bad. I want to be done.

Mile 13. Really? It has to start pouring rain now? This sucks.

Mile 13.1 I just want to be done. Where is that dang finish line?

Finish line: Whoa. I did it. I ran 13.1 miles!!!!!!!!!

Signs I loved:

"Go Amy Go! Running this half marathon has to be easier than being married to me!"

"Way to go random person!"

"Do it for the girls who got picked last in recess!"

T-shirts I loved:

This was pretty much how I was feeling before the race.

There were lots of t-shirts with the following 2 Bible verses

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

I totally memorized Hebrews 12:1 "Run with endurance the course set out for us." Both those t-shirts were encouraging!

Other t-shirts were inspiring because they advertised personal accomplishments. My favorite two were

"I'm down 80 pounds and still have more to go. Read about it on my blog."

"8 months ago I had open heart surgery. Today I'm running a half marathon!" The guy wearing that t-shirt was running with his 2 daughters. They ran on either side of him. Their t-shirts said, "I'm running with my dad," and had arrows pointing to him. 

I read the book Marathoning for Mortals when I first started training. One of the quotes from the book is, "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." I think that pretty much sums up my experience. Now I can relax and train just to stay in shape. It's pretty awesome to know I'm capable of running 13.1 miles though. 

Special thanks go to 

John for being incredibly supportive from start to finish. Might not get the boots, but the incentive got me going! The flowers were a great surprise!

Rebecca for being our sherpa! It was so good to have a friend there for moral support the day before and immediately after.You're the best!

Marsha, Kristen and Mel for being my training buddies. Especially Marsha! Your discipline and cheerful spirit inspires me every day! Everyone should read Marsha's blog!

Marsha's Aunt and Uncle and adorable little cousins for letting us crash at their place! Thanks for the encouragement, hugs, food and my morning coffee!

Last, Dr. Campbell. After all...this whole thing was his idea. Thanks for rallying people department to do something monumental together.

Getting buff...

A few girls in my lab group had the brilliant idea for us all to run a marathon. I don't really enjoy running. It always seems like a good idea and I get all motivated and go for a run and then remember very quickly that I don't enjoy it at all. Problem is, everyone is on board for this lab group marathon team. Fortunately, most of us decided to just to a half marathon. Our professor is going to walk a 5-k and one girl will run the who marathon. I'm just smart enough to know my competitive side is going to take a blow if I don't actually train, so alas...here I am starting to train for a 13 mile race that's going to make me hurt for days and days. Actually, it's probably going to make me hurt for the next several months. 5K races are always fun. Especially when Martin runs them with me. So, last Saturday we ran the YMCA Sleigh Run. Turned out to be a great race! What's better than 200 people with bells on their shoes running in the snow? The best part is that the volunteers misdirected us and cut 1/4 mile off the course! Makes it look like I ran a 5k in less than 30 minutes, but actually I ran 2.7 miles in less than 30 minutes. I'm going to the gym a couple times a week now. Last night I "ran" on the eliptical machine and lifted weights. Definately a humbling experience. Hopefully Baxter and I can start going on runs in the mornings before I come to school a few days a week. Might have to get him some boots to protect his little paws from the cold snow and ice.