My first half-marathon is under my belt and I feel AWESOME about my accomplishment! I still can’t believe how far I’ve come since joining a gym at the end of January. I wasn’t able to run more than 90 seconds as of February 1 and now I’m running 13.1 mile races! It shows how easy it is to start running and how easy it is to run injury free when you combine strength, cardio and lots of stretching.

Since I had taken a half-day on Friday I was able to get all my race gear together and ready to go before we even went to dinner. My mom came into town for my race so before we headed to dinner Rod and Mom picked out their strategy to cheer me on for the race. She was at four different locations and Rod was at nine different locations. Both were at the start and finish line which were very motivating!

For my big carb loading dinner on Friday night we went to Buca di Beppo and feasted on their Penne San Remo (substituting whole wheat pasta for their regular pasta) and their proscuitto stuffed chicken. We also split an appetizer of fried calamari and the antipasto salad. It was SO good and the perfect carb loading for the night before a big race! There’s also a TON of leftovers in our fridge so we have lunch for this week, yum!

In the morning I woke up bright and early at 5:30 after a night of tossing and turning. I was SO nervous and excited that I spent most of the night looking at the clock and dreaming about the upcoming race. I’m really glad that I went to bed at 9:15 on Thursday so I had a night of rest to base my race off of (I can’t thank my trainer enough for that bit of wisdom)!

For breakfast I had a slice of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin bread topped with Almond Butter. We stopped at Starbucks (where I had my first red cup of the season) so I could grab a soy latte. I actually ran into a guy that I graduated with from Butler in the parking garage and we were off to the starting line. I went through my stretches and ran into someone I worked with at the TV station who is a decorated racewalker! He put my nerves to ease, I stretched again and used the port o’lets before saying goodbye to Rod and my mom.

To keep myself at the proper pace (and since they didn’t have official corrals) I got in line right behind the 5:00 Marathon Pace Group and figured that was a perfect place for me to run the first half of the race. I saw Boomer (the Pacers mascot) and was off! It really kept me calm to be standing with a pace group that was all about just running it and having fun. There were a lot of first timers in that group and that also eased my nerves. I didn’t see Rod or my mom since there was such a crowd, but they at least got a picture of the sign so I knew where I started!

The first major landmark we ran past was the Lucas Oil Stadium where the Indianapolis Colts play. There were a lot of people cheering as we came around that corner and that was where I first saw Rod! I was SO glad to see him I started cheering, clapping and waving my arms around.

I still had my gloves at this point and was really glad that I had a gun time of 14:00 for my first mile. On my watch I did a 10 minute mile so I was really excited. I might have been a little too excited because I really picked up the pace and at the next mile marker the timer read 21:00 - eek! I started slowing down so that I wasn’t overexerting myself too early in the race. Heading up Meridian street to the Monument was really special. I started getting choked up a little when we were coming through there as the monument was where Rod and I got engaged back in 2007!

It was really cool to be part of such a large group of people touring the city and seeing all the sights that Indianapolis has to offer. When we ran through the circle and past the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s theater they had music playing and it was really fun to run on the bricks.

Rod got a great picture of me running through the circle and I look SO happy. I think I was still in awe that I was doing this and that there were so many people out running on a chilly morning. Around Mile Three my stomach really started hurting. I had been drinking water at each station (and walking through the stations so I could drink properly) so I figured to break out some of my Clif Shot Bloks.

It took me a while to get into the package and by the time I finally got them open I was right by Rod on Massachusetts Ave! I love the picture he got of the runners with Chase tower in the background. What a perfect fall view of Downtown Indianapolis!

I’ve got my shot bloks in hand and I’m just smiling away in this shot. I was really happy as I was still on part of the loop I run on my own. It just made me really appreciate all the spectators and just how much energy and excitement the runners had! I know I was in a slower group but everyone was really supportive and encouraging of everyone around them.

Towards the end of Mass Ave one of the local high schools had their drumline out keeping people motivated. They were really good and fun to watch as we were running by, although there wasn’t a water stop there where there was supposed to be one (I was a little obsessed with the course map before the race). Running by the Indianapolis Public Schools bus depot was really cool as the Marathon was raising money for IPS and they had all the buses out honking and cheering for the runners.

When we came around 10th street there was a family who had set up their own water stop and was all dressed in crazy costumes. The kids were handing out cups of water and the adults were cheering like crazy. Anytime I saw people out cheering I made sure to yell and cheer to thank them for coming out. It may have used some precious energy but I had so much fun, it was almost like a party to me. Running up along Central to the Old Northside was really rewarding because I usually run that stretch at the beginning of a run so I felt like I had just gotten started and it was almost mile number five!

I think this recap is getting long enough, I’m going to continue it on in my next post! If you’d just like to know how I did, you can visit my results here.