Rock and Roll Marathon 2009

We did it! Yesterday, my friend Dawn and I completed our first 1/2 marathon, and boy are we glad that it's over! I cannot begin to express how supportive everyone was during the run. We started the race down in Tukwila at 7am (although we technically didn't cross the start line until 8:16am since they had to stagger the 25,000 people that were running) and ended at Qwest Field, in Seattle, 3 hours later. We ran most of the time but walked the big hills so that we wouldn't collapse and give up. There were so many volunteers along the way passing out water, Jolly Ranchers, Vaseline, bandaids and Gatorade. We ran through neighborhoods where everyone was sitting in their lawn chairs blasting Michael Jackson and cheering us on. About 20 different cheerleading squads from the surrounding area's were dressed as rock and roll girls doing cheers for all of the runners. Some people stood out in thier lawns for hours spraying their hoses on all of us that crossed by their houses. About 12 bands were staggered throughout the 13.1 miles playing their music as we crossed each milestone. And my beloved trainer Trista was there at the 13 mile mark cheering us on and going crazy as she saw us come running down off of the viaduct. I started crying when I saw her just knowing how proud she was of us, and seeing her there cheering us on. It was a great day. The weather could not have been more perfect and I am so incredibly excited to do it again next year. My main goal for this year was just finishing the race and keeping a good pace, but next year I'm going for a goal with a much better time (better start training now). I have to praise God for waking me up at 4am when my alarm clock did not go off at 3:30am. I have no other explanation as to why I would have waken up so early. All in all a great experience and I am so thankful that I can rest a bit from here on out.