Marathon Support Crew

We had the chance to cheer on my friend Stephanie on her first Half Marathon on Saturday.  If you've ever run a Half or entire Marathon, you know that those silly signs that people hold up can be the encouragement you need to get up the hill, keep running, or just get you over the wall.  I decided to have some fun with it:

@Approx 3 miles: Run Now, Wine Later

@ Approx 5 Miles: Hey Girl, keep running! This guy will be waiting for you at the Finish Line (her fiance)

@ Approx 8 miles: Don't worry, tomorrow you won't feel your feet at all!

We also ran into another friend (Jessie) right off the start line, who was very excited to see us:

"Hey, I know you!!"

We weren't the only ones with the motivational sign idea, we saw this around the 8 mile mark:

But most importantly, Steph finished her Half Marathon, and she was greeted with her Half Medal and of course, roses (what girl doesn't love getting flowers?!) Welcome to the Half Crazy club, Steph!

Golden Tidbit:

We had some chase music as the Mobile Support team and Charles introduced me to the song "Gold".  Clink the word Gold and it will link you to iTunes, the song is just $1.29! (doesn't hurt that Macklemore is a local Seattle Artist, too!)

Golden Quote: "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." -Frank Shorter

13.1

Today I got to finish something that a year ago I couldn't even fathom..... I completed my first Half Marathon (Seattle Half Marathon):

At the finish line with my Medal

Start line for the Half

In the I90 tunnel

Final time: 3:05:09 which is about 5 min over my original aim.  I used this Half training schedule from about.com, chosen after having such success using the same type of program for 10k training.

I can honestly say that I wasn't able to give the schedule the real time necessary to train properly with the long runs in the latter part; even though the step up in mileage was manageable, the 1.5-2+ hours needed for the runs after about 8 miles is a hard one to fit into a traveling schedule.  No, that's not an excuse, I made the choice of work over the run and will admit my last 3 miles suffered immensely for that.  I know know exactly what "The Wall" feels like, and it sucks.  

I was lucky enough to have the greatest support team EVER consisting of my BF and our 2 close friends; over the course I saw them 3 times, which is pretty impressive when you think that they had to battle closed roads for the course to do it.  Seeing my bf on that last mile helped me push through one of the hardest runs of my life and get it done.  Crossing the finish line and getting that medal put on me was more emotional than I thought it would be; what a great experience... but I think that I'll be sticking with 5k's & 10k's for a while.

And really, right now, running pretty much the last thing on my mind... time for a little recovery.

Golden Feature:

Since I can't seem to get my hands on Usain Bolt's Gold Olympia shoes, I'd settle for these Gold ones by Adidas (On Sale for $95.99!)  Those wings just scream Speedy!

Golden Tidbit:" The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals."  Hal Higdon