Prairie State Half

This past Saturday I ran the Prairie State Half Marathon right here in Illinois. It was a gorgeous course with about 11 miles of it on a trail through the beautiful autumn trees and colors. I wanted to do this very half last year. For 2011, my goal was to run 2 halfs (or is it halves??) before getting pregnant with baby #2. I ran one in May, and trained for the Prairie State race, but 2 weeks before the race I found out I was pregnant with Claire, and had a minor complication that prompted my doctor to prohibit me from running the race. I was bummed. I had done all of the training, which in my opinion is the hardest part. 

I ran my very first half 3 months after Emily was born, and really loved having that goal to help get me and my new baby out of the house every day in the sunshine, sweating off those pounds. So, I resolved to set the same goal for 3 months after Claire was born.  The bonus was that the race happened to be the same race I didn't get to run the year prior... The Prairie State Half! 

Pushing both girls in a bulky jogging stroller proved to be great training for me, because of the 3 Half Marathons I have run, this one was definitely my best race...where I felt good and energized the whole way through, and ended with my best time: 1:51:45 

Sydney and Melissa ran it too, and while we all had different paces and ran our own races, it was fun to start with them, and see them at the finish line.

 

I wanted to take some pictures of the course, but this is the only one I got at 1/4 of a mile into it! HA! It just proved to be a little too much trying to watch my surroundings, hold my phone and try to snap a picture while keeping my pace.

 

Miles 1-4 are always a bit mentally hard for me. I'm thinking about how much longer I have to go, and I'm trying to find and settle into a good, comfortable pace that will push me enough to get the time I want, but also let me last through the whole 13 miles. 

 Miles 4-10 were great. I was in my groove, and just loving the run. Loving the brights trees and meandering trail. Loving the stream of other runners flowing through the trail and truly feeling inspired by all of the hundreds of people who came out on the cold October morning to run their buns off! 

 By mile 10 I had sucked back both GU packs that I brought, as well as one of my gatorade bottles. I was just waiting and hoping for that sugar to set in, and my energy level to go up. Even thought I still felt good, miles 10-12 were the most difficult. My pace dropped a bit, and instead of me passing people, I was the one slowly getting passed . I didn't like that, and thankfully, by the time I passed that 12 mile marker, I got a surge of energy (probably because I knew it was almost over, so I might as well kick it into gear and expend every ounce I had left in me.) It felt really good to pass all of those runners that had passed me previously, and sprint my way through the finish line. 

 And look who was waiting for me...

It really was a chilly cold morning, so it meant so much that Devin packed up the girls, the stroller, the coats, the snacks, etc. to support me. 

 And here we are with our medals

 

As a huge side note, my oldest brother Josh was supposed to run this race with me. He committed himself to doing it back in July and has been training every day and every week to be able to complete his very first half marathon. What are the chances that he got the flu the very week of the race?! I felt so bad for him, partly because I know the feeling of training for a race that you don't end up running due to health, and partly because I was so excited to run it with him and have that experience/memory. This just means we have another one waiting for us in the Spring to run together.