Garmin Half

Well, folks. I finally did it. It's been on my yearly to-dos for the last several years, and now I can finally check it off. Saturday, I ran my first half marathon in Olathe, Kansas. 

It was so much fun...except for the running part :) Actually, the running part was fun too, until I got to mile 10 or so. Then, it was anything but. I didn't really have a goal time - I didn't feel worthy of a goal time since I'm about the slowest runner ever - but I ran faster than I ever had during training, and so I was happy. My legs were not.

There was such a great energy at the race. I've done 10Ks before, and they all have lots of energy and excitement too, but something is different at a marathon. Everyone has had to train for multiple weeks (in our case either 12 or 18), all in preparation for this one single morning. There was an especially spirited feeling of unity among the racers this last Saturday following the sad events last Monday in Boston.

I drove down and stayed with a couple friends from Kirksville (Kirksville is a runner's dream - there are oodles of student wives just waiting to recruit people to their marathoning parties. Every year a decent sized group runs the Garmin race in Olathe. Seven of us ran on Saturday. Four did the half and the other three did the full.)

I left the kiddos at home with Phil. It was great to sleep through the night, but I missed seeing them at the race, and unfortunately I had no one to tote around my camera and take pictures. Therefore, I am consigned to this one. Story of my life.

If you've ever considered running a half, or a whole for that matter, you should absolutely do it!