Race Day! USMC Half Marathon 9/22/2012

This will be our first official post! Yay!  I've been wanting to write a blog this year on our family, health and wellness but life has been so busy with Martinez' returning home, moving, training for a half marathon, and now adjusting with a new school/schedule.  Now that things have fallen into a rhythm I would love to share more of our adventures and things I love to talk about!

First up, I have give a little background info on our past weekend race.   I made a New Year's resolution to run the USMC half marathon and in June I started training for it.  My dear sweet husband wanted to help me train but sadly he had to bow out after breaking his foot.  He was my biggest supporter during the summer training and always there to give me honest feedback.  Each week I was amazed how I could make it a bit further and further.  When I ran 8 miles I knew mentally that I could run 13.1 miles. In August I ran an informal half marathon with a running club "Stroller Warriors" to help me build confidence that I could run for that long. It was special that the group raised funds for OAR (Organization for Autism Research). An organization that is near and dear to our family.  I was thankful I ended up running with another amazing mother runner that was around my pace.  She helped me finish the run in roughly 2hrs 27mins.  I felt amazing afterwards.  Annnnnnd I was bit by the racing bug (and getting medals)and signed up for the USMC half marathon that night.

In July when my daughter's preschool teacher reached out to me and asked if JuJu would like to participate in the half marathon as well.  I was thrilled to have her included but knew I didn't train to push her for that long.  I was assured she would have runner's that could take on this task.  There were three Marines that volunteered to push JuJu in her jogger and we learned that this would be the first half marathon for all of them!!  Talk about motivation!   My daughter became a Captain in "My Team Triumph: Ainsley's Angels."  It's an amazing group for special needs children.  If you have the time you should Google the team.

The day of the race.  Well JuJu must of known it was going to be a special day for her.  She was awake by 2:30am!  So needless to say we all didn't get much rest but excited to get to the meeting spot for our group.  I loved seeing all the kids in their jogger chairs and all the motivated runners that had volunteered to be these children's feet.  You could just feel the energy in the air!  I kissed JuJu and said I'd see her at the finish line.  I then found my place in the crowd of runners where I thought I would fall into.  Once we started it was just an amazing feeling running with people who loved to run.  The first 4 miles flew by as everyone settled into their pace.  That's right around when JuJu and her volunteer Angels flew past me.  I never did catch up to her-lol!  I knew she was loving the speed and the wind in her face.  It was perfect weather for a run.  I just concentrated on my pace and breathing...and looking at how other people run.  It was quite amusing at times to see different forms, some even looked painful, but whatever works for them, right?!  Around mile 6 is where on my iPod I had put Marine Corps cadences to help steady my pace.  That's when my running goes into the zone and I feel like I could run forever. I was pacing to finish around 2hr 10min!!  Well....I was anyway.  Around mile 8.5-9 is when my IT band started aching.  I started stretching and walking a bit and sadly all the people I managed to pass started passing me....ugh.  I literally had to hobble run/walk the rest of the race.  Very disappointing knowing my goal time was slipping away.  Wanting to cry the last mile I saw my daughter at the last turn and knew she would love me to push her through the finish line.  I ignored all the tightness in my legs and RAN to her.  The smile on her face when she looked back and saw me was priceless.  It made all the pain worth while just for that moment.  My daughter was all smiles for the rest of the morning.  I placed her medal around her neck and she wore it for hours after the race.  We got so many photos of her smiling and laughing.  She even wore her "bling" to lunch at IHOP.  I think she was diggin' the fact that she beat her mom!  

Our next adventure will be the kids and I volunteering to manage a water table in the next Stroller Warriors event.  I hope the kids enjoy doing it and that I get some good pictures to post!   Our next race with JuJu will be in October.   I'm excited to start training for it!   I'm going to add some strength training (with my HOT hubby) and yoga mixed in with running to see if it all helps prevent another IT band issue.  The foam roller has been SO beneficial, helping my knee pain go away.

Have a fitabulous day!

P.S.  I'm thinking I should bling out JuJu's jogging chair but need some inspiration but nothing that will add a lot of weight.  I found out today during her therapy session that JuJu doesn't like the color pink. She refuses to match the pink cards. Her favorite color to match is purple.  So I need ideas how to bling out her chair using purple somehow-hehe!