Warning weekend 1/2 marathon craziness ahead..

Hey all you lovely bloggers! Sorry I have been a little neglective as of late..I was totally planning on doing an awesome “Try’em out Tuesday” and well with this being a short week for me (explanation to follow), things got crazy and time ran out on me! But don’t worry, it WILL be back next week!

This weekend was a blast of craziness as the hubs and I headed out to partake in our first 1/2 and full marathon. That’s right folks, we headed to Ohio (land of the free and the runners) for the Air Force Marathon..whoot whoot!! I know that I have mentioned it on several occasions but have yet to come out and tell all you lovely ladies what has been monopolizing most of my time for the last few weeks. so here it is…I just ran my first 1/2 marathon this last weekend!

Now this is Big because as of June 2009 I was a total anti-runner! Seriously folks, the Hubs would beg and plead for me to join him but I would either make some lame excuse or claim I hate running and even more it hates me (so we would all be better if  we just avoided each other, me and running that is)! The Hubs would continue to beg me claiming that I would so learn to love it and even begin to gasp be addicted! And yes, as much as I hate to admit the hubs was right, I soon fell victim to the running addiction too :)

It was not easy at first; in fact I quit many times. But alas..with the hubs encouragement I persevered and soon could not live without it really started to love it! One of the other things that kept me going through the training was the fact that I had committed to running the AF Marathon in Ohio on September 19th and didn’t want to disappoint!

Oh and what a weekend it was!! I had the tremendous pleasure of getting to run the 1/2 marathon with my sister-in-law :) The hubs and I also got to stay in her new house which is incredibly cute and so much fun! A lot of the Hubs family lives near Dayton Ohio so not only was it an amazing time to get to participate in the marathon but we had a blast getting to hang with the fam!

We arrived in Ohio late thursday night and on friday we got to attend Chapel at the college where we met..so many good memories there! The rest of the day was spent hanging out with family, getting to see my sister-in-law’s class and preparing for the festivities of the next day.

We woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and headed out to Wright Patt AFB. I made it just in time to see the Hubs group (there were so many people there i couldn’t see him) take off for the Marathon. The lines for the bathroom were crazy so Rachel and I spent the next 40 minutes waiting in line so that we could empty our bladders before our race started. Once the tank was empty we had just enough time to tear off our warm-ups, hand them to our lovely family members that came to support us and run to the start line! By 8:30am we were off and running :0

I had two main goals for this race:

1. to run the whole thing (no walking for me) and..

2. to keep about a 10 minute mile pace!

I’m not going to lie..some parts of the race were really tough. there were some hardcore hills that really got to me but overall I felt like I was keeping a steady pace (I didn’t have a watch to keep track). AND I ran the WHOLE thing..whoot whoot! The first two miles it was hard b/c there were a lot of people to try and get around so that I could find a spot to fall into a good grove (I really don’t know why people stopped in the middle of the road to walk..so annoying..move to the side people please!). Also it was funny b/c around mile nine the burps started coming out..not from me though..from those around me! I guess it’s about that time that your body just has to let it out :)

It was really neat getting to run through the base, there were some really cool houses to look at which helped keep me distracted. There wasn’t a lot of spectator spots but it was so cool hearing the cheers of the active duty military members cheering us on as well as the volunteers :) It was also neat to get to run with all the active military members participating..some ROTC students even ran with packs and boots..craziness! Knowing that when I finished I would then get to cheer the hubs on to the finish helped keep me going!

The end was the coolest as we got to run through the AF museum planes to the finish line with all our friends and family cheering us on!

You can’t really see me but I am in the pink and grey! I was able to sprint to the finish with all that I had left! It felt so good to finish and my final time was 2 hours and 11 minutes (which is right about the 10 min mile pace)! go me :)

Once I finished and finally snapped out of my daze (I was basically wandering around while people were handing me towels, food and my medal) I found the family and was then able to cheer on the sis!

Go Rachel! she did amazing and I am so proud of her!

A little while later the excitement mounted as the hubs came into my line of view..

he’s in the blue (you can’t really see him here)! Rachel and I followed him and yelled at the top of our lungs all the way to the finish line!

Isn’t he so cute!! He was totally amazing and I can’t even express how proud of him I am!

I am now totally hooked and I am already looking for the next race I can participate in :) What has happened to me?! I even went out and ran 6 miles today! I now can’t wait to do a full marathon (though i think I might do another 1/2 again first).

Sorry for the long post :) I just couldn’t wait to share! hope you had a  wonderful weekend!

Stay tuned for Try’em out Tuesday tomorrow!