2:10:23

I know it may sound crazy but I run because running keeps me sane. Yesterday I finished #5 on the list of things I want to accomplish – I ran my first half marathon. I was so impressed with myself. I have been training really hard and all of that paid off. I was able to finish with 2 hours, 10 minutes, and 23 seconds, definitely a personal best. It is a full minute per mile faster than my normal pace. I think part of the reason I did so well is that for the last 4 miles I was near these women who had a radio – it was so annoying. I kept sprinting ahead and would eventually fall back with them, this happened 4 times before they finally turned it off (a dj was playing) and we finished. So thank you, annoying women for being rude and playing your crappy radio pop bull shit music for all around you to hear.

Some of the highlights of the day were 1. Of course beating my pb and doing much better than I had expected, 2. this guy in girly bikini bottoms, a rainbow afro wig, and a lei passing me, he did the full marathon in under 4 hours – he rocked, 3. the Denver Marathon organization printing your name on your bib and people I didn’t know were able personalize words of encouragement, 4. Reading people’s T-shirts; there was a group of people with a really beautiful Hellen Keller quote on the back and ‘Run for Jon’ on the front, a group of custom ‘I RUN…’ – I RUN because I can, to save live music, to hear people cheer, etc., 5. the signs people made; my favorite sign was right around mile 11 that said, “If your feet hurt it’s because you’re kicking asphalt, “ I know it’s cheesy but at that moment my feet did hurt and I was kicking ass! Another I thought was funny was, “26.2 Make each mile your bitch!” 6. My husband calling later in the evening and telling me he was proud of my run and that I killed it! The course was beautiful and is my home turf – it felt good to know where we were going, being familiar with the neighborhoods, and the terrain. The weather was perfect, we started at 7AM and it was pretty chilly, the weather predicted it to get up to 80 but I finished way before it did. The sun was out, the sky was blue, it was a perfect Denver day.

I feel awesome – I did something I never thought I would have done, I did better that I thought I could. 5 years ago I never would have thought I would enjoy running, never would I have imagined that it would become such a positive, powerful force in my life. I feel in some way that I have earned my stripes as a runner. I know that sounds silly but when you run in groups, which I do from time to time, it can be discouraging being a novice runner or a slow runner. But yesterday I lined-up with 10,400 other runners and did my personal best and accomplished something.

I was trying to find the quote I mentioned above and wasn’t able but I found this one that I think is awesome – “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”
Helen Keller
I pulled this picture off the web, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures and my husband forgot to bring the camera. This is City Park, a beautiful park about a mile away from my house - I run this park pretty often.
I also pulled this from the web - this is from the Denver Marathon website. I will post my pic when they are available. This is an example of some of the costumes people were wearing - the woman is actually a trainer at my gym. She teaches an awesome bosu class.