Hi Team!
Scott & Lynn~ Glad that you had a good race experience! Maybe next year we'll join you! A Florida trip during the cold weather always helps! Enjoy WDW and the wonderful lights!
Dave~ what's up with your foot?
Vicky~ happy that your knee is better!
Nikki~ the half marathon was about a mile from Woodfield mall. We live about 35 minutes West of there.
Margie~ A BIG THANK YOU for the trot certificate! Really cool to get in my email! I guess that you can use Liz's half marathon as hers. She hasn't had much time to get on the computer lately.
I forget, did we decide to do medals?
AFM~ All things considered, our half marathon went pretty well. When I went to get my Gatorade off of our front porch it was FROZEN!
So, I knew it was going to be a cold one!
Our car said it was 20 degrees as we were parking at the race. It was a little windy, so I'm guessing the windchill was about 5. We had about a quarter mile walk to pick up our chips and the start line. We were early so we made the hike back to our car to keep warm and hung out until about a half hour before the race.
Then we warmed up as best we could, used the port o pots, and got into the start crowd. We lined up towards the back, as usual. This is the first race that I have done where there were pacers with signs. They went back to a 2:15 finish time. The race started a little late, as there were some cars that had dropped off people and were trying to leave the forest preserve.
I kept my pace slow as I knew that I had not been training much and just wanted to finish. Liz was behind me at the start and I would occasionaly see her at a turnaround during the race. I eventually caught up to the 2:15 pace group and stayed with them for quite awhile. The race was mostly on paved bike trails, which was nice as I hate running on crushed limestone. The pacers were great about calling out the ice on the trail, so nobody would fall. There were several out and backs with turnarounds and as I passed our car, I almost ditched my outer layer of my hoodie. I was glad that I didn't, because at about mile 6 we had a huge overpass over route 53 to ascend and the wind from the traffic was freezing! Route 53 is a major road and I think it's ten lanes wide at that point. The bridge was long and had alot of people walking, then we had about 50 yards after the downside and had to turnaround and head back over the thing. Whoever planned the route is devious. I never had any recovery time before the 2nd time over. Grrrrr! and Brrrrr!!!
At the seven mile mark I checked my watch and I was at 1:07. This meant our pacers where way off and would finish in under 2:10. We lost a few of the group as the pacers sped up even more! I stuck with them until mile 8 and then did my own thing. After mile ten, I had to walk here and there and felt my lack of training doing me in. Again, I had severe muscle pain in my neck and right shoulder. I need to start strengthing those parts at he gym. I have arthritis in my upper spine, so I hunch over a little when I run, which doesn't help.
There was another pedestrian bridge in the last 5k of the race, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first and I could hear the finish line crowd. Overall, I finished 458 /681 with a time of 2:12:32 with a pace of 10:07. I was 32 / 42 in my age group. The 2:15 pace group finished at least five minutes before me. They passed me on the last turnaround and were all by themselves (the two pacers, no group!). I gave up my chip, got attacked by some lady who shoved a clipboard in my face to sign a waver for a massage (I abruptly declined!) , got my medal, got some apple cider, and headed to the car for the camera to see if I could catch Liz crossing the finish. By the time I got back she was already done, so no photo.
This was her first half marathon! She ended up with a time of 2:23:12 and placed 541 / 681 with a pace of 10:56 and 42 / 50 in her age group!
One weird thing about this race, they started the 5K about ten minutes after the half marathon started. The 5k'ers had to navigate through all of the marathoners!
-Mike
for the race report.
I am so not ready. I am torn between wanting to get in the steps and not wanting to over do it as to bring my PF back. 
