Rockin’ n Rolling

I ran my first half marathon! I signed up for the Chicago Rock n Roll half marathon.

I looked at my training schedule and the run landed on the day that I was to run 11 miles, so I was thinking I could run 2 extra miles. I also wanted to run a half marathon before I turned 41. This race was on July 22nd, so I was able to achieve that goal.

The health expo was nicely done, and there was a lot of free stuff. RunDisney had a booth there and I got to see and touch the finishers medal for the half I will be running! I even got a free bag from them. I even saw a run that I would like to do, possibly next year, the Las Vegas Rock n Roll half, wouldn’t it be cool running down the strip at night with live music and all the lights.

Surprisingly I wasn’t nervous about this race, I went with the mind set of taking my time and have a good time and not thinking of how far I was going to run. I was placed in corral 26, so it took awhile before we actually started. Once we started I was going at a good pace, and again running through downtown Chicago was fun, the people cheering were great, the bands/djs were pretty good. I really liked the 80’s cover band, they were playing a journey song when I passed by.

By mile 9 I started getting hungry, I was really tempted to go into a shop or Starbucks and get something to munch on. Then I remembered that in the next refreshment station they would have some gels, so I got 2 vanilla bean gels and that kept my hunger at bay. At mile 10 they had cold sponges that felt really good. A friend from work where I get some good running advice told me that to make sure I cool down my core before cooling my head. That really helped.

I finished the race in 2hrs 44min 55sec. I kept saying that I did better than I projected…yeah 5 seconds better! It felt really good crossing the finish line! I finished my first half! If you would of asked me a couple years ago if I could do a half marathon I would of said no way. Now I am looking forward to the next one! I’m very satisfied with my progress and happy how this running has kept my blood sugar down, my doctor even is hopeful that he will take me off my meds. I am very pleased on my progress.