Saturday, August 11, 2012

Hey! We did a MARA!

You know, a MARA:  half of a marathon!

We completed this half-marathon from the city of Georgetown down to the city of Idaho Springs, Colorado back in 2010, when we were prepping for the full marathon.  (read that story here)  Last year, I bailed on the race, as it was the first weekend after the first week of school.  The race directors said they'd apply our race fee to NEXT year's race, so here I found myself walking 13.1 miles on the Saturday BEFORE the first week of school!  Whatever.

The weather was beautiful, the miles were long...and I'm thrilled that I still have it in me to complete such a long race! My inner Warrior Brenda is leaping with joy!  (well, more like limping, but still...full of joy!)

 I'm not sure how 4:15am is a reasonable wake-up time, but I needed 
to get ready AND get to Sarah's so we could then travel to Idaho Springs.    
Oy.

 I've seen more sunrises this summer than ever before!
BEAUTIFUL lake reflections.

 Sarah, ready to go!

 Bring it on!

 Hey!  Mile one at around 14 minutes, which for a bunch of people 
who DIDN'T train one iota, we think that's a pretty respectable number!

 Started remembering the  lovely views along the path.

Mr. Horse, might you give me a ride!?
 
 Wow.  God is good.

Not bad for an early Saturday morning.

 What's a few raindrops during the last few miles?
Refreshing, right?  We lucked out - only a few minutes of the wet stuff.

Please slow down.  How ironic, considering we needed 
a little encouragement at that point to SPEED UP!

 BOOYA!  We finished!  Seriously, folks, the bar was pretty low.  
Our goal was to finish without the assistance of the local paramedics.

They announced Sarah's name incorrectly at the end ("Congratulations, Brenda and Rachel") so we plan to look up this mystery woman...and hope she had a better time than us!  Either way...Sarah, Brenda AND Rachel finished this race!

 Happy Brenda. 
(tired, exhausted, pained...but HAPPY!)

 Idaho Springs has some beautiful hanging baskets.

 Love the colors.

 My new eye's first half-marathon - and it did quite well.  Swelled a bit near the 
end of the race, but has settled in pretty nicely over this afternoon.  Whew!

 I just walked 13.1 miles, and all I got was this...
...creative t-shirt designed by a kiddo of a runner.  Nice!

No comments: