Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Parkersburg Half Marathon Race Day :)

What a weekend!  Apparently I needed an extra day of recovery to update the blog J 

What a successful and fun Team Spangler Event.  I underestimated how helpful the shirts would be!  Not only for awareness of Team Spangler but also finding each other in the mass of 1000’s of people on race day between the 2 mile and half marathon activities. 
Tara Got This Picture at the Starting Line for the 2 Miler and Half Marathon
I have joked but I’d really like to find the person who built that brick wall right in the middle of the course route around mile 9, because I ran straight into it J  I was so happy to see Holli and Melanie with their blue shirts waiting on me to run a little bit with me.    It was so nice to see the smiles and such effort from everyone.  I really wanted to weave over and give Carter and Sophie a high 5 by Tara’s house but at the time it almost seemed so far away on the other side of the road J  I finished in 1 hour and 47 minutes…I was really hoping to be in the lower 1:40’s as a mental goal…but it a was a great first back to it race to get back into the running race pace and see what I need to do from here. (Which is more miles and better adjusting my approach and race strategies).  I won’t admit out loud what I thought to myself after crossing the finish line knowing in the NYC Marathon I’ll have to do that “race” again since it was a ½ marathon….but let’s just say I’ll depend a lot on ‘heart’ that day of the race, because my legs won’t be agreeing. J 
 I teased Sophie she was NOT allowed to walk in the 2 mile (that is what papaw would tell her) J….and she didn’t and she ran a pretty impressive time, don’t tell her mom and dad but we may have to steal her and her long legs and make her a runner.  We ran into Tracie prior to the race who made our shirts and was sporting them with her friend J 
Sophie in the 2 Mile with Troy running with her...along with Tracie and her friend sporting Team Spangler Shirts :) 

We then easily found the Stavrakis clan with their shirts and was able to catch up a bit before the start. 

Us with Some of the Stavrakis Clan before the Race :)  Thanks Lora for taking the picture :)
Johnny Hogue finished 4th overall in the 2 mile race, he’s one of the XC runners for Ritchie County this season and we are looking forward to a big season for him.  (No Pressure Johnny) J  “Coach Holli” even rounded out 3rd place in her age group for the 2 mile (Apparently they went by birthday registered and not appearance, I like to admit we were asked several times what high school we went to) J  We had the Stavrakis clan in the 2 mile, mom, Tara, Bob Nelson, Drew Nelson, Sophie, Troy, along with Tracie and her Friend.   We had several spectators (Kathy) too sporting our shirts to help us along the way.
The half marathon went GREAT!   John was our strong man to finish for us.  Sharon Headley ran her best half marathon time!   She told me at the finish she had to run fast so there were people behind her to read her shirt J  Loved all the cheering for “Team Spangler”  We were so excited to have Betsy finish her first half marathon and hopefully more to come (Also Note…we love your competitive spirit of not allowing the girl to pass you)!  Aunt Becki was our true inspiration of not giving up for the day.  She was the highlight to my day of not giving up when the going got tough, and her motivation was for Dad and Team Spangler.  No matter the blisters and the ups and downs of the race she crossed that finish line running.  Becki, you are such an inspirational person and see the positive in so much, please know how much we all love you!
I took Sunday off from running but went for a walk with mom and smokes for maybe almost 3 miles.  Yesterday I was still walking rather funny so tried to stay in hiding at work.   When I got home I went for a 45 minute “shake out run” to try and get the soreness out a bit, plus it was a BEAUTIFUL evening to run and what a perfect temperature, too nice to not run!  I’m not wishing time away, but I sure do love the fall!  Today is a little bit better so looking forward to hopefully a normal run again J  Going to look into a few more possible races to sneak in before the marathon.

Just remember….
“We run for those who can no longer run themselves”