2:12:31

I finished! 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 31 seconds was my official time from the LaSalle Bank Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon and I ran all of it - no walking...not even through the water stops.

Sunday morning in Chicago was really a very nice morning for a run, even a half marathon run. The gun was at 6:30am so we got started nice and early so we could finish before it was too hot and humid. The course was very flat which is very different from my training landscape and there was a bunch of shade as well from trees and building. And those times when I was in the sunshine the sun seemed to be behind a cloud. I couldn't have asked for better conditions for an August day in the midwest. I ran most of the way with my cousin Becca who was my virtual training partner for the past few months. About mile 11 I had a little more than she did so I went ahead of her. We had another cousin join us for the race, but he ran much faster than we did (he finished in 1:43). I was happy to have the additional cheering section of him and his wife. Mentally I could have been in the race a little better, but I met my goal of finishing before 2:15 and I ran the entire race. I did it and happy that I did and was a great incentive to take care of my temple.

During the actual race there were so many people running! I've ran a fair number of races over the years and I have never been in a race where I ran in such a crowd the entire race. One of the strategies that I have had in races before is that you pick off one person at a time. There were so many people that I was passing and being passed constantly. The strategy on Sunday ended up more about finding a place to run than who I was going to pass or not be passed by. Even though I felt like I was in a crowd the entire race, as I saw the finish line there seemed to be quite a bit of empty space between me and the next set of people. I didn't think that I had it in me to catch those people in front of me. My mind was telling my body to just keep my steady pace until the end, one foot in front of the other. Then I felt someone coming up from behind me...I didn't think I had it in me to catch someone in front of me, but I wasn't going to let someone pass me :) so I found some energy for a little bit of a kick and I wasn't passed. Then it was over and I could stop being in perpectual motion!

It was a really great weekend even outside the race - my mom offered to watch the boys so we weren't carting them all over the place for the run. It was a great idea and are very thankful for that and took my parents up on the offer. After dropping the boys of in Centralia, we experienced some lovely Chicago traffic before we met Becca in Chicago Friday night and ate some Chicago style pizza. We walked around downtown Chicago including experiencing "the bean" in Millennium park and had enjoyed being in the city. Saturday we met more family including Becca's parents and other cousins at a Renaissance Fair then the obligatory pasta meal. We crashed at Heather's house in Chicago so the commute to the race Sunday morning wouldn't be as long and had a rousing game of Apples to Apples with 6 of us. After the race and showers we had a yummy brunch with the group and then we were all off back to resume the rest of our lives.

What's next for my workout routine? I don't know beyond taking a couple of days off and then starting to run with some other women that I met. Oh, and no interval training for awhile. Todd starts school next week and I'm assuming that our lives will get a bit more hectic and not sure of how much time I will have for training. Early mornings will probably still work for awhile until it gets too chilly to run in the mornings.