Martin County Half Marathon

The water booth that my parents (mom-red American shirt, dad white shirt) volunteered at ... Jill (in pink pants) with the harem and sultan (her hubby). Jill was one of my leaders back when I first started running. She was there for me at the finish line for the Palm Beach Half Marathon in 2006. My parents had a great time helping out.

Video is of my mom and the water stop girls cheering on the runners ... these water stops are the best, not only do they give you hydration, but they really cheer you up and motivate you to keep going! The the Martin County Half Marathon, the water station people were dressed up for Halloween (a lil early) and voted on by the runners ... Lincoln Park Academy's Cross Country Team's water stop won! Go Greyhounds! :)


Alex cheering on runners!


One of my friends, April, running through a busy intersection.


Video is of Rick, Bucky and myself after finishing the last bridge (there were 2 in this race) ... My dad and Alex caught up to us to cheer us on ... the three of us stayed together for a good while, great race company! :)


Parking lot of the race, way more people than I thought would be there! I think there were over 250 people who finished the race! WOW! That a good bit for a local race, put on by Sailfish Striders.

Jenny & Cheryl almost to the end of the race ... Jenny's hubby Randy giving them encouragement!


Trecei, Bonnie & Rhonda just finishing their 1st half marathon!! Way to go girls!!

Jenny smiling after her finish ... and this made me giggle, that's Cheryl in the background sticking her tongue out, as if to say "finally!" ... Way to go!


Jenny & Bonnie after finishing the race, and coming back to cheer everyone on!

April & her hubby Geoff (newlyweds!) after the race, they're still smiling!


Me smiling at April's mom as we were nearing the finish ... Santiago, Alex, my mom, Jenny's hubby Randy and Bonnie are in the background.

One of my favorite pics from the race ... my mom and Alex after we finished.


Me just after I finished .. don't I wish that was my time? Laugh, add an hour to it!

Bucky and I showing off our cool medals!


L to R - Tina & daughter, Jenny, Rick, Me, Bucky & Rhonda after the race ... we're missing Bonnie, Cheryl, Trecei from this picture!! Wish we had a full group one, we'll aim for that at the Palm Beach Half Marathon in December.


Ok ... now that all the pictures and videos are up there, I'll do a re-cap of our race since it's been hectic around here and I haven't made the time ...

We had special permission to start an hour early because we wanted to make sure we finished before they closed the finish line. Bucky, one of my best friends, met us there and did the race with us. Our Galloway training group is ... Rhonda, Cheryl, Tina, Trecei, Bonnie and Rick ... plus Jenny & I.

It was very dark when we started ... we had lots of honking of horns (cheering) as we started off, which was nice. Santiago & Alex caught up with us around the 1 mile mark, so they were there throughout the race ... driving around, honking his horn and cheering as we ran by. That really meant a lot to me.

There were two bridges in this race, which we did not train for, but really, we did just fine. We all enjoyed running down the first bridge, I think we ran for a straight 3.5 minutes ... it was a nice and comfy run downhill.

We ran mostly on sidewalks throughout the race, sometimes on the road. It was hard to see in certain areas, because they weren't all lit very well (I need to invest in a better head lamp) ... I tripped in a dark area around mile 4-5 and hit the ground with a nice hard "thud" ... if you look closely at my shirt at the end, you can see the grass stains. Not fun. Although Jenny said I would laugh about it later. :)

By the time we got our of the the Sewell's Point neighborhood around mile 8, Rick, Bucky and I were running together, everyone else was doing great and ahead of us. Around mile 10.5 or so, I told Rick to go ahead, I was hurting pretty bad, my feet were killing me, my thighs were cramping up ... Bucky stayed with me and we walked the rest of the way. I was still sick, coughing with an ear ache, and my fall didn't help me (yes, I'm trying to justify my slow time).

With all of that said, as Bucky and I neared the finish line, we had lots of people cheering us on ... Santiago & Alex, my parents, April's parents (and dog, Molly), April's hubby Geoff, Jenny & her hubby Randy .. I'm sure others were there (Bonnie?), but I'm having a brain fart right now.

With everything I had left, we ran the last tiny bit through the finish line ... we finished around 5 minutes slower than we did the Palm Beach Half Marathon in 2006. So although I'm not thrilled with my time, I'm very happy I finished!!

Shortly after I finished, I saw Rick ... carrying around a bunch of balloons! :) How sweet! I think his daughter brought them for him. We met our group's families, kids and cheerleaders! It was so great they were able to be there to cheer them on! I know it means the world to me to have my family there for me. We've trained together for so long, it was so heartwarming to see them all with smiles on their faces and knowing they just finished 13.1 miles!! :) I'm so very proud of them all!

We all took a few pictures ... had some hugs and I put on a big smile ... and disappeared pretty quick to find a banana and a place to sit down ... I was in a haze ... I wasn't feeling myself at all. Usually after a race, I'm exhausted, but on a total high, in very good spirits and talking about the race. This wasn't the case this time. I was hurting so badly, my body ached. I cried. I was shaky and just out of it. I think Jenny made me drink the endurox. I made it to the van, sat down and was just, ouch, hurting ... we all hung out for a bit ...

April crossed the finish line shortly after ... we hugged and we just cried and cried. I met April at a Gastric Bypass support group right after she had her surgery 2 years ago. She's worked hard to get where she is today and I am so proud of her and how far she's come ... as I told her in her ear, who would have ever thought we'd be runners??? :)

Sunday afternoon was rough ... but I survived ... and looking back on it all ... I'm very happy and already looking for another race ... Jenny and I are talking about doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon!