Rock On!

What better place to run my first half marathon than my "home" town of Chicago. Back in May at the Green Bay Marathon, I was overtaken by a moment of insanity and signed on the dotted line for the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon. After the initial "what was I thinking?" moment, I set out to train. To my surprise, the training didn't stink as much as I thought it would; in fact, I found it to be rather enjoyable.

With Grandma Pokey & Grandpa Tiger volunteering babysitting services, Rich and I set off on Saturday for Chi-town. Our first stop was the expo to pick up my race packet:

While at the expo, I met a great organization called Team 413. You can read more about them on their website, but it is awesome to be able to not only participate in an activity that you love, but also share your faith in the process!

Afterward, we headed to our hotel to unwind. I ended up taking a nap (*gasp*) and slept through our dinner reservation at Rosebud. We ended up just having carry-out from Bucca di Beppo - a wise choice and I was able to hit the hay fairly early (4:30 a.m. comes awfully early!)



As you can tell, it was still dark when we arrived at the starting gates. Thankfully, it was an untypical August day in Chicago. We were actually cold while we waited for the start of the race!



Rich took this picture while I was waiting to start the race. He calls it "my game face".




At mile 4, I was "joined" by my sweet hubby. Technically, he was a "race bandit" which was forbidden, but he ran alongside me for almost nine miles snapping photos, getting water for me and providing me my Gu and Shot Blocks! Now THAT is a dedicated husband!


Most importantly, I FINISHED! My goal was to (a) finish the race and (b) finish the race without walking. With God's awesome power, I accomplished my mission! My finishing time was 2 hours and 19 minutes. I am thrilled to have finished this race and I thank everyone for their prayers and support!

With God, all things are possible!