The Great Potato 1/2 Marathon

Our big race weekend was upon us before we could blink! Marc had Friday the 13th off. We spent the afternoon in Boise as we went to grab our race packets and then hopped over to the zoo for a little bit. All of us enjoyed watching the prairie dogs the best. They were all active and always so curious. We made some last minute purchases at REI and headed to my parents for dinner and to stay the night. Our kids enjoyed walking across the street to the big park they have over in Vienna Woods. We came home and tried to put the kids to sleep. The boys were easy enough, but Lexi struggled. My mom was patient enough to go lay down by her so she could sleep.

One of the advantages of sleeping over at their house was we didn't have to wake up and leave so early and the kids could sleep as long as they wanted. Marc & I were up by 6 and out the door a quarter to 7. We had originally planned to go up with Gina to the start of the race instead of trying to catch the shuttle by 7, but we got word that the shuttles were still going up by 7:15, so we hopped on the bus at the finish line & were driven up to Lucky Peak. It was cold & windy at the base of the reservoir! I was grateful for the warm clothes I brought, but not sure how many layers to take off before I started running. I ditched almost everything but the arm warmers, and 10 minutes into the race, I regretted not leaving those behind too!

There was around 1500 people running the half marathon. The first mile of the race was jam packed with people. It took a little while to settle into a good pace and not have so many people to weave in and out of. We were running on the green belt (a running/biking path that follows the Boise river) so space was extremely limited, but the scenery was nice :) My first 6 miles were great. I was relaxed, didn't need the headphones I brought and enjoyed running along the river. As we passed over Barber Park, (where you can put in your raft and float down the river) I was tempted to just jump in and swim to the finish line! We pulled off the greenbelt and started weaving through some neighborhoods and that's when I started to struggle a little bit. Mile 7 got lonely. I cranked up my music and just kept plugging along, keeping an eye on my pace (was running at about 10:30 pace). There was a couple that I leap-frogged with through the remaining of the race. They were walking and running. I would pass them while they walked, and they'd pass me when they ran. It played with my mind a lot! Drove me crazy really! I just wanted to pass them for good and I finally managed around mile 11.5 We got back on the green belt around mile 11 I think. My toes were starting to hurt. My knees ached a bit, but not nearly as bad as they do when I run the hills out in Caldwell. At this point I was ready to be done. After I got into mile 12, I tried to pick up the pace quite a bit and was running about 9 min miles. I could see the bridge that I would cross to get into Ann Morrison Park and the finish line and I could feel my legs getting heavier and heavier. I tried taking my last "gu" (energy gel) it was the last thing I wanted at that point, but I wanted to come in at my goal time and come into the finish line strong. I kept pushing myself and got across the bridge. As we came into the park and I could see all the booths and all the people, I saw my family cheering and it lifted my spirits to keep going! The kids were all cheering and Marc ran with me around the corner until I had about 100 meters into the shoot. Gina and her sister-in-law were there cheering me on and I finally made it across the finish line at 2 hours and 17 minutes! Woo hoo! Here's some pictures of my cheering squad:
Marc had an awesome race. He had an ambitious goal of 1 hour 40 minutes, and came in at 1:39! I would have liked to have seen him race but I was somewhere back at mile 9 :)

Here's us with Gina. She had a goal time of 2 hours and came in at 2:01! I was very impressed.
Now we just have to figure out what's next! And wait for these babies to heal (pictures taken 5 days after the race)