Thursday, March 11, 2010

Little Rock Half Marathon


(my niece Camryn. Cutest little (almost 10 year old) girl I know.


About a week before the race I had decided that it would be best if I did not do the race. My Achilles was a big concern. I had tried running on a treadmill at the gym and the next day my leg would be hurting. However, I was never satisfied with that decision. I just felt like I had to try! Even if I walked the entire 13.1 miles, I had to!
Up until the race my longest run was just over 7 miles and that had been weeks ago. I knew that I had 4 hours to finish. So that was my goal. To FINISH!

The night before the race we stayed with my sister. Her 13 year old was running the Half too.
We got up around 5:15am to leave by 6am. The race started at 8am and they wanted everyone in their corals by 7:45am.
We ran by McDonald's for breakfast and found a place to park. It was quite a walk to the starting area.
We got lined up... thousands of people! OMG... I was nervous. I prayed that my leg would hold out for 13.1 miles!

We got started and I went with a slow, and steady jog. My 10K (6.2 mile) time was 1:15:23. little slower than my 10K time in November.


I continued to jog up until just past mile 8. My knee started aching a little. I promised I wouldn't push it and that I would listen to my body. So I walked some. At this point I was mixing walking and jogging for several miles. I was SO close to the end and my knee really started hurting. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I stopped and stretched and walked some more (even slower). Some gals ran by me giving me a "you got it, it is not much farther".

As I approached the final leg of my journey. I saw Jeff walking toward me. He stepped out onto the course and walked a little with me. He told me you are almost there and something else, and said go. Then he stepped away and I WENT. That little bit of time with him meant the world to me. I nearly cry every time I think about it. I was so excited to see him there waiting on me. I love him so much! Then I saw my kids, my sister, her husband and their kids. My niece had finished already.
All that gave me the gust I needed to sprint (for me) to the finish! It was awesome!!!! I finished!!!
At this point I have NO desire whatsoever to run a full marathon! But I WILL run another Half!

My unofficial stats are:
overall place: 2467 out of 2905
division place: 264out of 310
gender place: 1318 out of 1648
time: 2:54:18
I finished in under 3 hours!!!!!!
We wont mention that there were about 15 FULL MARATHON runners that finished before I ever crossed the line.
I am so happy with what I accomplished.

(and I burned over 1400 calories in the process)


My niece Kat's stats:
age: 13
gender: F


overall place: 1061 out of 2908
division place: 2 out of 7
gender place: 421 out of 1650
time: 2:08:31
pace: 9:49
10k: 57:56

3 comments:

Julia (Grammy) said...

You made me want to cry...I'm so proud of all you've accoplished.

Anonymous said...

I'm very proud of you Jenefer! Way to go girlie.

Diane said...

So proud of you!!! I knew you could do it!