Grand Prairie Half Marathon
{Saturday, September 22}
Best support group EVER!! I held back tears when I first saw my honey and my boys, and I still had one more little loop left {about 0.3 or a mile}
This is the wonderful D.P. Davidson. She's the author of Push, a wonderful novel that all of you should read, she's my friend and fellow counselor in Young Women's with me and I call her MY COACH. She pushed me and motivated me to get up ONE TOO MANY TIMES at 5 am to train. And sadly enough, she was unable to run the race! Broke my heart. She was having trouble with her hip not long before the race, and the week of the race the DOC said stay off or you'll be sorry. She still drove me to the race at 6:30 AM and cheered me on. What a woman! She's wonderful. Everyone needs a Diana in their life.
A little about the actual race...
I was feeling great until about the 7th mile {BUG/HEAT HEAVEN} I could tell I was starting to struggle a little. I passed an aide station not far after and the workers yelled "You're third female!" There was only two other females ahead of me! Talk about a BOOST I needed. I did NOT expect even coming close to that in this race. I thought to myself "I can do this! I've never been this close to placing in a race!" So I kicked my pace up a notch. At mile 9 I hit a wall. BAD. But then a runner not far behind me was cheering on every person he passed and being SO funny, blasting his Michael Jackson music. As he came up to my side and tuned to him and said "I need your motivation!" I asked what his pace was and it was what I wanted to keep up. I told him I just HAD to stay at third female. He was the ONLY reason I finished when I did! Every minute it seemed he would turn to me and ask how I was breathing. We talked about our kids and mostly he kept me laughing and pushing me. He played a game that he would "reel runners in". We slowly but surely reeled in female #2. He reminded me a lot of my dad, same age and same humor. It was great. He finished just a few seconds in front of me.
Finishing time:
1:55:31
1st place in my age division
2nd overall female
{being awarded my silly plaque}
I achieved my goal of finishing under two hours, barely.
It felt great.
Mostly, it feels good to feel healthy and back into shape again.
More races to come in the future!
Next half marathon will be with D.P. :)
I finally feel like I got myself back into shape after baby #2.
I have REALLY enjoyed running lately, and I am so glad my friend D.P. Davidson invited me to sign up for this half with her.
The race was in Grand Prairie around Joe Pool Lake, which is about 35 mins from Fort Worth. The course was pretty, but SO MANY BUGS when we were close to the water. I had to hold my hands out to cover my eyes, mouth and nose to block them. Two other things that I didn't expect were the heat {I train EARLY EARLY morning almost ever run when the sun was still down} and also the almost completely FLAT course. The neighborhood we trained in had ups and downs which I like and was used to. But with that said, it was still a good race. I was pleased with my finish.
This is the wonderful D.P. Davidson. She's the author of Push, a wonderful novel that all of you should read, she's my friend and fellow counselor in Young Women's with me and I call her MY COACH. She pushed me and motivated me to get up ONE TOO MANY TIMES at 5 am to train. And sadly enough, she was unable to run the race! Broke my heart. She was having trouble with her hip not long before the race, and the week of the race the DOC said stay off or you'll be sorry. She still drove me to the race at 6:30 AM and cheered me on. What a woman! She's wonderful. Everyone needs a Diana in their life.
I was feeling great until about the 7th mile {BUG/HEAT HEAVEN} I could tell I was starting to struggle a little. I passed an aide station not far after and the workers yelled "You're third female!" There was only two other females ahead of me! Talk about a BOOST I needed. I did NOT expect even coming close to that in this race. I thought to myself "I can do this! I've never been this close to placing in a race!" So I kicked my pace up a notch. At mile 9 I hit a wall. BAD. But then a runner not far behind me was cheering on every person he passed and being SO funny, blasting his Michael Jackson music. As he came up to my side and tuned to him and said "I need your motivation!" I asked what his pace was and it was what I wanted to keep up. I told him I just HAD to stay at third female. He was the ONLY reason I finished when I did! Every minute it seemed he would turn to me and ask how I was breathing. We talked about our kids and mostly he kept me laughing and pushing me. He played a game that he would "reel runners in". We slowly but surely reeled in female #2. He reminded me a lot of my dad, same age and same humor. It was great. He finished just a few seconds in front of me.
Finishing time:
1:55:31
1st place in my age division
2nd overall female
{being awarded my silly plaque}
I achieved my goal of finishing under two hours, barely.
It felt great.
Mostly, it feels good to feel healthy and back into shape again.
More races to come in the future!
Next half marathon will be with D.P. :)
4 comments:
You are the most beautiful girl in the whole world !
Congrats! I am trying to decide if I should sign up for a marathon. I have been running regularly for 6 years. Yup, 6. Even through my pregnancies I still ran a bit. I do about 5-6 miles 5 times a week. I know i could do it I just wish I had a running partner!
Have you ever done a marathon?
You could definitely do a marathon! I did the St. George Marathon 6 years ago, and I think it's a great first marathon. You would love it! Especially if you like running enough to run that much for so long. I wish we lived by each other! I'm dying to have a running partner by me. I have a few ladies, but I drive a bit to meet them. We were actually in Utah for two weeks and I haven't ran since we got back, bad. So I need to get my butt back in gear. Anyways... I think you should do a marathon. The Bryce Canyon Half Marathon is awesome too. Also I know A LOT of runners in St. George so depending on where you live I could maybe hook you up with some friends. Let me know! :)
Awesome! - Ashley
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