My new school ...

I just wanted to share this with everyone. This actually happened last Monday in the new student union. It was kept completely secret so it was so random these people just started dancing! I can't believe I missed it! Darn classes getting in the way ...

Sunday morning my mom and I woke up at 4:30 AM to the sound of rain on the window outside and thunder in the distance; slowly, we geared up for a wet race in the Flying Pig’s half marathon in Cincinnati. At the start of the course, we huddled with a crowd of the 18,518 other soggy participants waiting for the gun. At 6:30 on the dot—with permission from the weatherman—we were off! The first mile or so was crowded, claustrophobic, and slow. Unfortunately, due to the rain and the crowds, no one was seeded correctly and my mom and I were entirely too far back. We did our best to bob and weave throughout the crowd, but we still couldn’t do much more than a slow jog or brisk walk for the first quarter to half mile before the throngs of people began to break up. We began passing people and amazing consistently passed people throughout the entire 13.1 mile race! For the first few miles I focused on keeping a steady pace and a relaxed stride. I felt much better during this race than I did during my first half marathon, when once I arrived at the half-way point I was questioning my reasoning for inflicting this type of torture upon myself. Despite the horrible weather, quite a few spectators showed up including an Elvis impersonator, a brass band, and a barbershop group. The presence of that many spectators was amazing; every time we passed another aid station with music or a pack of people, I got more energized.

As expected, I didn’t feel brilliant throughout the run, when the wind kicked up around mile 5, I started to wheeze as we loped uphill. However, when we hit the steep hills at mile 6, I turned to my mom and said “six to nine is up hill, right?” She responded, “yup, then it’s all downhill to the end.” So off we went. Our goal was to remain steady or push harder up the hills if possible, weaving through the other runners as they slowed. Around mile 7, I realized that we were over half way, which was completely do-able! At mile 9 we were still trying hard to make up for our lost time at the start, hitting around a 9 min/mi pace which rapidly sped to an 8:00 min/mi as we approached the end of the course. I was super excited and smiling broadly at mile 12 when I turned to my mom and said, “one more to go!” We both kicked it up into high gear and finished at a pace just under 8 min/miles. My mom and I made a great team: she pulled me along as I slowed down and I did the same for her when she sagged. Overall it was a great experience. Although I really wish our time more reflected how we both ran that day—we finished just at 2 hrs 1 min, 4 min slower than my previous half—it was still a lot of fun and a great feeling to hit the end of the race and know although my legs were tired, I had enough in them to push strong through the end.

Finish Swine!!