Go! St. Louis 1/2 Marathon

Heidi:

What a great day/race!

The weeks leading up to this 1/2 marathon we didn't even think about the race.  The week of we had to remind ourselves that we were actually doing it.  Any year prior this race would have been HUGE but yesterday was a big stepping stone to the 70.3.  When our training plan called for a 40 mile bike & 2 mile run just 2 days before the race we had to call our trainer just to make sure that was accurate.  And for the record- heather & i stepped it down to 20 mile bike & 2 mile run- being a little nervous about how our legs would feel after that type of workout before a major race.  We were sort of excited about Sunday because it would take us about 1/2 the time that our normal Sunday workouts have been taking us!  

I started the day off being VERY nervous.  As I always am on race morning.  I felt good but also could feel my legs being sore.  At this point we don't know what it feels like to have completely rested legs.

We started the race.  It was a beautiful morning.  7am.  Sun rising and about 50+ degrees with high looking at 80 for the day.  The miles went by so smoothly- and quite quickly.  At mile 2 I was thinking about a walk break but didn't really need one.  We found our first water station- grabbed some- and started running again.  From that point on I never thought about a walk break again.  We walked to drink our water/gatorade every 2 miles for less than 30 seconds.  Before this day- heather & I had NEVER taken a run over 3 miles without a walk break.  We ran the entire 13.1 miles without a walk break!!!

I felt great the entire race.  My feet were tired of course but my body felt great and I was in a fantastic mood.  I enjoy the motivational tshirts, signs, the crowd (best of all my husband that road his bike around the city finding us at at least 5 places!) and cheerleaders and just being with a group of 17,000 other people running after their own goals.  It was a beautiful day.

Packet pick up on Sat. afternoon.  Great bags!

Race morning!  Still a little sleepy eyed!

a little help from hammer gel.  these are our favorites and nearly become wonderful chocolate pudding after being on your back getting warmed up :)

my shoe & timing chip

this is about mile 9-10.  feeling good and smiling!  heather was so happy to see her family!

done & done.