The Columbia Half-Marathon

We did it!!! We both completed another half-marathon (David's 2nd, my 3rd one) - what a great accomplishment!! This was the ONLY picture we have - our babysitters took it of us before we left in the morning. Glad we got at least one!! :) Here's how the morning went:

We woke up at 5:30 am. Our race start was a (relatively) late one - didn't start until 8 am - so we were able to feel like we got a full night's sleep which was nice. David got in the shower and I got Caleb out of his bed to feed him. I then showered and got ready and our babysitters were here at 6 am (poor girls!) I went over all the instructions about Caleb & Callie with them, explained who had Jacob and who was coming to pick up Josiah. We finally left our house around 6:40 am. Drove downtown and parked near the finish line, then headed towards the start. It was a BEAUTIFUL day - the sun was out, clear skies - really perfect running weather. It was in the 30s at the start and supposed to warm up into the 40s by the time we finished so we both decided to wear long pants and long sleeves - no jacket, hats or gloves though. It was perfect. We got our timing chips and made one last potty stop before heading to the start.

After MUCH discussion and going back and forth, we decided NOT to run together. As much fun as it would have been, I knew that I was not going to be able to keep up with David. He felt great and I knew he would have a chance at beating his time and so I told him that I would be fine. So the horn sounded and we were off!

The first part of the course was pretty and much more interesting to look at than the second half. But BOY was it hilly! I had hoped that when we drove it the day before, I would find a FLAT course awaiting me...but sadly no. The entire course was up and down hills. Sigh. I miss flat VA Beach! It was hard - much harder on me than I thought it would be. I was really feeling it by mile 8 but hung in there. At mile 12, we turned a corner and then had a HUGE uphill mile left for us. I had to stop and walk a few times up the hill because I just had nothing left. But I finally rounded the corner and had only a few blocks left to the finish when I saw David waiting there for me!! He ran the last several blocks with me (DOWNHILL finally!) and that helped! I was SO excited to hear that he had ROCKED his race - it gave me the will to make it to the end! WE did it!

My time was 2:19 - my slowest half yet (I blame the hills! :) oh and just having a baby 6 months ago probably played a part too). My very first half was 2:13, and the one I did right before getting pregnant with Caleb I finished in 2 hours flat. David finished in 1:58 (his last half-marathon time was 2:03) - he beat my fastest time!!! He was so excited and I was SO proud of him. He was ready for it. He said the hills didin't bother him with the exception of the last mile MOUNTAIN - but he was able to hang in there! It was a small race - the first "annual" here in the city - so there were only 600 runners and NO crowd support (seriously, I probably saw 5 people during the whole race cheering). We knew this going in, but picked it anyways because it worked in our schedule, it was a Saturday race (not many of these...and Sunday is nearly impossible for David to do), and it was local and close by since we do have 4 kids to figure out arrangements for.

After finishing, we rushed through the finish line tents to get some water and powerade (oh, and David ate some wings that they had - gross!) and got in the car to pick up the boys from their basketball games. We were able to see the last quarter of Josiah's game and then headed home with both boys. When we got home, Callie was happy as a clam with her babysitters (they are her teachers at church on Wednesday night and she ADORES them) and Caleb was taking a nap, so all was well!!

We showered and fed the kids lunch and then Caleb FINALLY woke up at 12:45 pm for me to feed him. (Remember, I hadn't fed him since 5:30 AM that morning!!) We were BOTH very glad to see each other! :) Whew - what a morning -but it was great!!! Now it's nice to be done with training for a little bit!!!