Staycation Day 9: The Half Marathon

I think I'm the only person on the planet that decides to spend the last day of vacation running. And running a half marathon at that.

That's right, today was the big race day - Kati and I ran the 2012 Shamrock'n Half Marathon! The official results are not up yet, but my Garmin says 2:13:09, which might be a few seconds high since I was so excited to be done that I forgot to hit the stop button.

I am beyond proud of my sister - she's not a runner by nature (or so she says!) and this was not easy for her. It was really fun to spend time training with her and then running today. That said, I've officially dubbed her a "real" runner since at one point in the race she said "I sort of wish there was a hill so we could run downhill". Yeah, only real runners actually wish for hills. She seriously did really well and we didn't walk a single step! I'm sort of sad that when I do next weekend's long run, it will be alone! :(

They changed the course around a lot from when I ran it (way back in 2009). There was this awful hill back then that they've taken out and a big chunk of today's race was out on the bike trail. There were pluses and minuses to both. The old course was great for spectators to be able to see you at a bunch of different places (the new course, not so much). The new course didn't have the hill, but we were able to run on the trail (similar to where we trained).

Here's an action shot from somewhere around mile 9-10. My parents, Mike, and Nate were there (in Old Town) to take some pictures and cheer us on. I'm in the pink and Kati's in the purple.

Running Our Hearts Out

Here's us just before the finish line - we rounded the corner into the stadium and both of us felt like rock star athletes! They have great music playing and you're running out on the field. It's a really fun finish!

Making A Dash For The Finish

After the race, we ran into one of our coworkers, Irene, who was also running her first half. Why is it that everyone else always looks all cute after races and I look like my face is about to explode and have Kramer hair?

Kati, Irene And I

Finally, the only reason I run - the medals. They were actually really cute this year - with a pot of gold and a little leprechaun.

2012 Shamrock'n Half Marathon Bib & Medal

In sadder news, my feet took a pounding today. I'm not sure what was different in my stride today (13.1 miles vs. last week's 12) but I ended up with a great blister on and under my scar. Awesome. My favorite place to get a blister.

Ouch.

I'm sore and tired, but am so happy that Kati and I ran today. We had a lot of fun together and it was really cool to be able to share this experience with her! Now it's off to the sofa to spend my last few hours of vacation relaxing!