Yes, I'm writing you post-half marathon. Ryan and I were both finishers. :) I am happy. This was a really great weekend. I know I won't be able to put it all into words, but it was really super. Here is the weekend-race-recap:
On Friday early afternoon I went and picked Ryan up at work and we left for the city. We had a great trip singing every possible song on my favorite playlist. I love doing that. Ryan and I have the most extensive eclectic taste in music and sometimes I'll just throw together the most random playlist on my iPod and we'll sing till we have headaches. It was great. Anyway, we immediately went downtown to the Hyatt to the expo to get our packets. The expo was quite a bit smaller than Nashville (as expected) but Ryan actually like it better because it was less crowded. I do wish they had more gear to buy. After we got our packets we wandered around shopping at the Crown Center. It was a must to go into the cat store and into Franklin Covey. After we got tired of walking we went to Ryan's cousin's, Rob and Sarah's house in Overland Park to stay for the night. I have never in my life stayed with a more precious family. We had the best time with them and their three kids, Taylor, Carter, and Quinton (or "Q"). I have some pictures of them in my album you need to check out. I have to say that by default we spent the most time with Quinton (4-years-old) because the other boys had soccer practice. Quinton is the most innocently smart, polite, loveable, and precious boy. I'm not going to write even half of the stories he regaled us with, but he is just wonderful. I must say, that family makes me want to have kids. If I can even hope to raise such wonderful children like theirs. Thank you Rob and Sarah for your hospitality! After a dinner at Nick and Jakes where Q and I played tick-tak-toe through dinner and some imaginary games of football in the basement, Ryan and I went to bed for the next day ahead.
At 4:30 the alarm went off and up we were! We tip-toed out of the house about 5:30 to head downtown for the start. As we left the house we realized the people had not included any safety pins in our packets so we had no way to get our bibs on! We had to exit 3 times to find a gas station with safety pins. Crisis averted. It took us 20 minutes to find parking downtown, but we were parked and waiting in the shopping center by 6:30. We had 30 minutes to spare before the gun went off. Ry was so, so nervous. So many people and so many miles to run. His tummy was doing flip-flops. With about 10 minutes left we wound through the crowds to the start line and got ready to run. I adore listening to people at the start line. So funny. The gun went off and off we went! The start was great. Ry was pumped up at this point and all was good. He made me laugh SO HARD around mile 1 of the race because he compared the runner in front of him to a t-rex dinosaur. Oh my gosh, you guys have to see Ry do the impression, complete with sounds. It is so hysterical. Anyway, I got kinda panicky around mile 2-3 because my groin was getting really tight. I freaked that I wasn't going to be able to do this. Ry was doing freaking amazing. He was in his groove. We just took it slow and steady. We got smacked in the face with the most disgusting hill God ever created about mile 2.5. Yea, we walked that along with nearly everyone else. I don't know how anyone could run this race and expect to PR. The hills were vicious. Not like Nashville with long never ending hills, these were steep and frequent. Nasty. We had a rhythm down of running to every water stop and then walking for a few minutes and the starting again. Ry's shins were doing great, but his hip was really aggravated early into the race. We are still trying to figure out how that happened. By the time the race ended he had a sort of hobble-shuffle-scoot thing going on because his hip hurt so bad. I did pretty well. The starting and stopping were the worst for my groin, so I just had to ease into it and slow down. As I told you before we left we tried to be slow, smart, and to not get injured. It was a success on all fronts. The time is slow and I don't care. Ryan and I just ran a 13.1 miles without running for 9 weeks. Our finish time was 2:51:14 (13:20 miles). I haven't plugged the Garmin in yet to see the breakdown, but when we were actually running our pace was somewhere between 10:30 and 11:30 per mile. Slow but steady. We succeeded in our goal of 1) not getting injured and 2) finishing. I'm so pleased.
On Friday early afternoon I went and picked Ryan up at work and we left for the city. We had a great trip singing every possible song on my favorite playlist. I love doing that. Ryan and I have the most extensive eclectic taste in music and sometimes I'll just throw together the most random playlist on my iPod and we'll sing till we have headaches. It was great. Anyway, we immediately went downtown to the Hyatt to the expo to get our packets. The expo was quite a bit smaller than Nashville (as expected) but Ryan actually like it better because it was less crowded. I do wish they had more gear to buy. After we got our packets we wandered around shopping at the Crown Center. It was a must to go into the cat store and into Franklin Covey. After we got tired of walking we went to Ryan's cousin's, Rob and Sarah's house in Overland Park to stay for the night. I have never in my life stayed with a more precious family. We had the best time with them and their three kids, Taylor, Carter, and Quinton (or "Q"). I have some pictures of them in my album you need to check out. I have to say that by default we spent the most time with Quinton (4-years-old) because the other boys had soccer practice. Quinton is the most innocently smart, polite, loveable, and precious boy. I'm not going to write even half of the stories he regaled us with, but he is just wonderful. I must say, that family makes me want to have kids. If I can even hope to raise such wonderful children like theirs. Thank you Rob and Sarah for your hospitality! After a dinner at Nick and Jakes where Q and I played tick-tak-toe through dinner and some imaginary games of football in the basement, Ryan and I went to bed for the next day ahead.
At 4:30 the alarm went off and up we were! We tip-toed out of the house about 5:30 to head downtown for the start. As we left the house we realized the people had not included any safety pins in our packets so we had no way to get our bibs on! We had to exit 3 times to find a gas station with safety pins. Crisis averted. It took us 20 minutes to find parking downtown, but we were parked and waiting in the shopping center by 6:30. We had 30 minutes to spare before the gun went off. Ry was so, so nervous. So many people and so many miles to run. His tummy was doing flip-flops. With about 10 minutes left we wound through the crowds to the start line and got ready to run. I adore listening to people at the start line. So funny. The gun went off and off we went! The start was great. Ry was pumped up at this point and all was good. He made me laugh SO HARD around mile 1 of the race because he compared the runner in front of him to a t-rex dinosaur. Oh my gosh, you guys have to see Ry do the impression, complete with sounds. It is so hysterical. Anyway, I got kinda panicky around mile 2-3 because my groin was getting really tight. I freaked that I wasn't going to be able to do this. Ry was doing freaking amazing. He was in his groove. We just took it slow and steady. We got smacked in the face with the most disgusting hill God ever created about mile 2.5. Yea, we walked that along with nearly everyone else. I don't know how anyone could run this race and expect to PR. The hills were vicious. Not like Nashville with long never ending hills, these were steep and frequent. Nasty. We had a rhythm down of running to every water stop and then walking for a few minutes and the starting again. Ry's shins were doing great, but his hip was really aggravated early into the race. We are still trying to figure out how that happened. By the time the race ended he had a sort of hobble-shuffle-scoot thing going on because his hip hurt so bad. I did pretty well. The starting and stopping were the worst for my groin, so I just had to ease into it and slow down. As I told you before we left we tried to be slow, smart, and to not get injured. It was a success on all fronts. The time is slow and I don't care. Ryan and I just ran a 13.1 miles without running for 9 weeks. Our finish time was 2:51:14 (13:20 miles). I haven't plugged the Garmin in yet to see the breakdown, but when we were actually running our pace was somewhere between 10:30 and 11:30 per mile. Slow but steady. We succeeded in our goal of 1) not getting injured and 2) finishing. I'm so pleased.
This was a beautiful race but probably not one I would do again. It was so hilly. Again, as soon as I'm able to sync my garmin I'll give you the elevation. They don't even post that nastiness on the website! The course was beautiful and the volunteers were fantastic.
I'm sore today. I can tell my running form has depreciated because of my sore points. Ry is sore too but his hip is doing ok. He is going to the chiropractor tomorrow to get put back in place. I am so, so proud of him. He was cursing me all the way back to the car, and well, was cursing pretty much the last 3 miles, but I think today he's determined it was all worth it. Will he do it again? Not sure yet. I think he needs to work the soreness out first. :) Maybe if he thinks of that t-rex guy again he'll run.
Check out my photo album to get our photos. We've got photos from all this weekend and of Taylor, Carter, and the Q. :)
TODAY I LOVE: that unmatching post-race feeling and the weight of a medal around your neck
5 comments:
Yay! Congratulations! It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend, and I love the pics you posted.
Awesome! :-)
Nice work guys! So sorry I had to up and move to Denver before meeting you in KC. :( I'm really glad that you both made it through without injury. And it is a tough course... it was my first 1/2 marathon and that first hill over by Liberty Memorial is a DOOZIE! Kansas City is NOT flat at all... just look at the Plaza! I used to do my hill training there after work!
Congrats again on doing such a tough course! You guys are awesome. :)
YEEEHHAAWWW!!! GREAT JOB YOU GUYS!!!! I'm so proud of you both! Great pictures and great race report. So glad you had a good race and great weekend. I was on pins and needles thinking about you guys on Sunday!!
i want to do a half or full marathon with you someday.
SO AWESOME!!! Yay for you guys!! Think Ry could get Matt running? That would take some doin's. I love your description of The Hill - reminds me of how we talked about those hills we biked on the South Creek trail. And YAY for Franklin Covey!! I need to order my '09 pages for my planner. Yep. I still use paper, and I'm proud of it. :) I love the pic of you and Ry with your medals - way to go!
Post a Comment