The Johnny Kelly Half Marathon - My wife's first Half Marathon!!
She had been talking about doing a half for quite some time but hesitated signing up for one. Back in February while I was signing myself up for this race, I went ahead and signed her up too. The sh*t got real for her real quick!! LOL
It was funny watching her the night before getting her stuff ready. It was like watching her pack to go camping or for a trip :) She was ready!! I think years of watching me prep for my races, she picked up a thing or two. Not only was she ready to go to the race, she was ready to run it. She had been training hard with a couple of ladies from our group. Mileage wise, she had run more miles than me since Boston. I'm still beat up and haven't really been training for this half. So my plan was to just stick with her and run beside her.
At the start as the Star Spangled Banner played
8:15 start and we were off!!!
A friend of mine told me that when he would run with his wife, he would run just a tad behind her so that she wouldn't feel the need to try to run at his pace. He would let her set the pace. So I did just the same. Stayed just a couple steps behind her holding her water bottle and snacks. I let her do her thing! She would let me know when she needed a drink when she would turn around to look for me.
I would be lying if I said that the masses of people passing me wasn't driving me mad. In my mind, I was like "no, no, no, no.... OH no! Not that guy too!!" :( ... LOL. I just put on my headphones and zoned it all out. My longest run since Boston had been only 5 miles. And not feeling at 100%, it would be stupid of me to really push it. Plus this wasn't about me.
Over all, my wife did great. The first couples miles she was moving right along. At mile 3.5 there was a random 1 mile marker on the side of the road and she gave me a look like WTF?! I giggled a bit, but convinced her that it was wrong. It wasn't til about the halfway point when she started to struggle a bit. I told her not to worry about to just walk it off. She did good picking it right up.
I tried to make her laugh at one point by pointing out that Mickey Mouse was ahead of us in the race:
Not sure if it helped her, but I laughed at it for a couple of miles.... LOL
As we got closer the end, I was running beside her. A couple of times holding her hand and helping her get past that mental part that wants to make you quit. I think she got her second wind that last half mile as the crowd was cheering her on. I felt her pace get faster as we approached the finish line. Her goal time was 2:30 and she ended up crossing the finish line at 2:28!!
A PR no matter how you look at it!!!! Woot!!
She did awesome and I'm soo proud of her! She ran this race strong and did not give up! She was hurting after the race and could barely walk, but as a true runner was already saying she can't wait for the next one!! Yay!
A couple of our Tri-State Running team mates also ran this half
*My wife is already taking a nap... LOL
This race was perfect for her first half. It was mostly flat and the weather was mid 50's for most of the race. The course ran by some beautiful beaches and the wind from the ocean was refreshing. We couldn't ask for a better day!
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That's it for now. I haven't been blogging much lately. Life has just been happening, you know? A lot I want to say, but not enough time. But I'll still keep at it - stay tuned!
