Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon!

🙂 🙂 🙂

I can’t believe I did it. I ran my first half marathon! 

We headed to the expo first thing on Saturday. Packet pickup was a breeze and really well organized.. And I had to buy some things.

I got new shoes! Mizuno Wave Elixir 8. I really needed some running shoes and I wanted to try a different brand besides Nike and Asics. I guess we’ll see if I like them this week! If not, good thing you’re supposed to replace shoes after so many miles 😉 I also bought a short sleeve (top) Brooks shirt and long sleeve (bottom). The material is so nice.

I did the 5k for this race back in 2009. So much has changed since then… I look like a little peanut! Wow.

They have a pasta dinner the night before. Penne, marinara, breadsticks, Greek salad (I promise it’s under there!) and cookies. All my favorite foods. I definitely had seconds.

We just chilled in our hotel room for the rest of the night. We stayed at the Aloft. Probably the coolest hotel I’ve ever stayed in!

The night before the race was weird. I could not fall asleep and it seemed to last forever. I was happy when my alarm went off to get up and get ready!

I had a piece of toast with pb and banana before the race. Normally I only have a banana and pb before a long run so I know I wasn’t supposed to eat the toast. But I did and it’s done so whatever!

Also doing the race was my cousin Laura (middle) and her friend Amanda. They ran it together.

I waited in line for the port-a-potty and then went to line up! I wanted to run with the 1:50 group but I missed the time slot to meet them so I didn’t.

26 seconds of silence were held in remembrance of Boston. It was really powerful. In our packets all the runners got a wristband in support.

The gun started and we were off! I could see the 1:50 group so I tried to follow them. Mile 1 came and I remember thinking it was easy. 2 also came pretty quick. After a few miles, I felt like my pace was faster than the 1:50’s so I passed them. My pace was feeling good, I was confident!

Miles 6-10 weren’t very fun. I was just so.bored. My track coach told me today that means I wasn’t running fast enough. That makes a lot of sense and is good to know for the future!

At mile 10 I knew it was just a 5k left so I started picking it up. At 11 I saw Laura’s friends and they gave me a super huge cheer. It helped so much! Cheering really helps runners. I really think it gave me the will to finish!

The runners actually get to run through Lambeau Field. Such an experience. They had music blasting and spectators in the bleachers. Once I was out I knew the finish was close. I came around the last corner and saw the big blue box and started booking it. I came in so fast at the end, literally sprinting! I guess that also shows I could’ve went faster during the race 😉

All this for a grand total chip time of 1:49:38! I broke 2 hours, my goal! And even more awesomeness…

I won my age group! The medal was Olympic sized. So big.

They provide free massages for the runners which I obviously took advantage of. My legs felt so much better after it! And of course I had to have the chocolate milk they supplied. And the bananas.

After checking out at the hotel and packing up we headed home. We were super hungry though, so we stopped at Panera! My first time there!

I got a tomato and mozzerella panini which was pretty yummy but I was still super hungry after so I got pesto sacchettini which was delicious! And a scone of course. Panera will happen many more times in the future 🙂

 

We stopped at the mall on the way out and I couldn’t resist a smoothie. Avocado + banana = best smoothie I’ve ever had, not even joking! So yummy!

And then we made it home. I can’t believe the day actually came! I remember when I started training and the thought of running 5 miles was crazy. So much has changed!

Happy MIMM! What a marvelous weekend 🙂