Virginia Beach Rock N' Roll Half Marathon 2013

My friend, Julie, and her family drove all the way here from Michigan to run the half marathon.  It was almost surreal to see her and spend time with her again.  Julie was the one who got me into running in the first place.  She was the one who met me twice a week at Metro Beach with our little #1's and coached me through training for a 5k.  The last time we saw eachother we both had #2's in our belly, so it was awesome to have all 6 of our kids together.

Kyle, Colin, Eliot, Evan, Alison, Luke

Saturday morning we went on a short run in our neighborhood and then took the kids for a walk through Windsor Castle trail.  I don't think we even needed that run, because pushing kids in double strollers on a hilly trail was far harder than any run I've been on.  

After some Ringo's donuts, the men took the kids to the pool and we took the babies with us down to VA Beach to pick up our packets.

 

 Sunday morning we were up at 4am to get ready for the race.  A friend of mine graciously drove us down to Virginia Beach (her husband was also running) and it was awesome to not have to worry about parking or shuttles.  By 6:45am we were in corral 5, waiting to start the race.

 We heard the gunshot for corral 1 to start and Julie said she was going to vomit.

I was nervous too, but told her to think back to 6 years ago, when we were struggling to jog a block.  Now we're running 13 miles and just think what we'll be doing in 6 more years.

We took a deep breath and decided to enjoy the ride.

 There was one major terrible thing that happened during the race, but I'll blog about that later.  Other than that, the race was amazing.  

We averaged an 8:30 pace the whole 13.1 miles and finished at exactly 2 hours.  

I couldn't believe it...we actually met our lofty goal.

We came in at the top 15% of 16,000 runners!

At mile 10.5  Julie got a major side cramp and had to walk.  We decided that I would keep running and I thought I would finish and then go back to help her.  Little did I know that she found a heap of determination somewhere and was right behind me the whole time.  The guys were so confused when we ran by only seconds apart.  But it made the pictures Ben took pretty funny.

I was beyond excited to see my family and Julie is desperately trying to get my attention.

Last mile of the race on the boardwalk...I'm the pink shorts:

p.s.  don't wear pink shorts on a long run.  I dumped water on my head at every water station and it made my shorts bleed pink down my legs.  My socks turned pink and you can only imagine was everyone behind me was thinking.  Julie said she heard a guy say, "well, that's unfortunate".

I actually felt good most of the race, except for mile 9 and 13...then I was ready to be lounging on the beach.  By mile 11, my feet hurt, but I was thankful that was all.  No blisters, no cramps, no injuries.

So what got me through?

First, I thought about all the training I did and how many times I thought about this race...and now I was in it.  I was finally there and I just tried to take in each mile.

Second, there was a lot to see.  It actually went by pretty quickly.  There were bands along the way and water/gaterade stations.  There were people wearing crazy outfits, people throwing up and every once in awhile someone would leap into a bush for an emergancy bathroom.  There were couples running together, parents with kids, and several people pushing jogging strollers with disabled people in them.

Finally, I thought about Ben and the kids.  If you could dedicate a mile, I would give the last one to Colin.  He made me stronger than I thought possible and knowing he was waiting for me at the finish line is what drove me. 

look at that hair!  now I see why women cut their hair short...

We crossed the finish line and they announced our names, handed us medals and chocolate milk.

I know it sounds gross-chocolate milk.  But it was the best.thing.ever.  That and an ice cold rag.  We chugged a couple bottles of water, found our families and were finally able to lounge on the beach. 

Speaking of our families, they were amazing.  The men got up early too and got all 6 kids ready for a long day.  I know they felt like they ran a half marathon by the end of the day, with all the walking and pushing big strollers and bathroom runs.  And to say our thanks for being there to support us, we took everyone to get slurpees.

I know the big question remains...will I do it again?

Perhaps.

But first I have to beat Ben in the hog jog :)