We finished!

We did it! Sean and I both finished the half marathon yesterday (one of us much faster than the other, but hey! I still finished and ran the whole thing). Sean finished in an unbelievable 1:34. I came across the finish line at 2:19.

I'll be honest - it was a lot harder than I expected and I was a LOT more sore last night than I expected but I did it! The hills did me in. Didn't train much with hills in Minnesota! But the weather was absolutely perfect and the route was so beautiful.

It was an amazing experience to run with 25,000 other people. I've never done anything like it. After meeting the Team in Training crew at 4am (yeah!) we headed down to the start line in Tukwila. People just milled about for a couple hours and it was an amazing atmosphere. Everyone seemed to just be really excited to be there an definitely anxious to get started.

They started us in corrals - there were 36 total. I was back in corral 20 with 700 of my closest friends. It took almost 30 minutes for us to even get up to the start line.

I took a bunch of photos with a disposable camera so I'll get those developed ASAP and share them here too.

Here are some pictures from the day. (More to come soon!) :

My request ....

First, did you see that I met my fundraising goal?? Just wanted to make sure everyone saw that one more time. Because it's AWESOME. My rock star supporters (see over here at right) and everyone else who has lent moral support are absolutely the best.

So here it is - my last (running-related) request! My friend Ali (aka Laurie Ann) gave me a great idea for race day. I would love to have all of you wear pink on Saturday - race day - and send me a picture. Wear pink in honor of Gracie (it's her favorite color) or in honor of someone else you know who has battled cancer or in memory of someone you know who battled cancer. It will be an awesome show of support. And you don't have to wear all pink either. A couple of friends from work said they had pink bandanas. Perfect!

Here's me wearing my pink earlier in the season:


And again for the 10K run:


I'll post all the pictures here on the blog. I can't wait to see the pictures coming in! And don't worry - you know I'll send a reminder!

Just four more days ...

I'm counting down the days!

The finish line is near. As you can see, race day is less than a month away. What an amazing experience this has been!

So far, you've all helped me raise more than $3000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help combat blood cancers. I'm so proud to be a part of the Team in Training organization!

But it's not time to rest just yet. The fundraising deadline comes even sooner.

There are just two weeks left for me to raise $998!

Any assistance you can provide in helping me to reach my final goal is greatly appreciated! As always, thank you so much for your support.

GO TEAM!

The Get in Gear 10K!

I have officially completed my first 10K race and it went really well! Sean and I were joined by 7000 of our closest friends in the race on a cool but sunny day. And, my sister Bethany was there to cheer us on, even though she missed us both coming across the finish line. Such a bummer!

Here we are getting ready for the race:


That's me in the pink shirt and hat and Sean walking toward me. It's really quite something to run with such a big crowd. This is really what it looked like for most of the race:


I felt really good the whole way. With that many people, you really are distracted most of the time by trying to move around people and keep your pace going. I kept an eye on my NikePlus and was feeling really good about the pace most of the way. Of course, my iPod was blasting in my ears too. Here was the rockstar playlist:

Paper Planes - M.I.A. (always my song for the start of a race)
Because of Love - Janet Jackson
Just a Ride - Jem
King Without a Crown - Matisyahu
Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z
Stronger - Kanye West
Someone to Call My Lover - Janet Jackson
Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) - Wyclef Jean
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker
Mercy - Duffy
Freedom - George Michael
September - Earth, Wind & Fire
Final Countdown - Europe (always the best song for the end of a race)

And yes, I do go from listening to Matisyahu, the Orthodox Jew rapper to Jay-Z singing "Dirt Off Your Shoulder."

My goal was to finish the race in under an hour, which would be a pace just under 10 minutes/mile. I finished at 58:35 and felt GREAT about it! Here's a link to the official results. You'll see I placed 604 out of 1766 women runners. Not too bad! Sean seriously rocked it. He finished in 45 minutes and placed 319 out of 1647 men!

Here's Sean and I after the race. Pay no attention to the fact that my face is the same color as my shirt:

So it was a good day all around. Special thank to Sis for cheering us on!!

Marathon course map

The course map for the race has been released! At first, I was really excited. Then I looked at the map and it hit me just how far 13 miles is going to feel! (And, by the way, I thought to myself that I'm SO glad I'm not doing a full marathon.)

It looks like the course will have a nice view of the water. That will keep me distracted, right?? Maybe the music will help. I wonder if a new band every mile will be enough...

Do you think they will play "Final Countdown" for me as I cross the finish line?