Nationwide Children's Hospital Marathon

I completed my second half marathon this morning. I was extremely nervous as I didn't train nearly as hard as I did last year, however, I'm still happy about my time. This race is soo special. I loved running in it last year because of all the patient champions at each mile. One child is recognized at each mile and is present during the race, they have big foam hands that the race participants give high fives to as they pass each child. As we're running we also learn fun facts about the children. Seeing their family support the child and also the racers is really cool. They also have a miracle mile (mile 11) where they honor and remember those children who have lost their life. This mile was extremely emotional for me again this year. After seeing acouple pictures and reading details, I had to stop reading and looking. This race is truly inspirational. After mile 11 I started running really fast. Although the race was hard and I wanted to walk at certain points, hearing people I don't even know cheering for me, seeing the children's champions at each mile, and reading the backs of several runners shirts (in memory of, running in honor of) I continued and finished strong. In addition to the inspirational children, the race is seriously lined the ENTIRE way with people cheering you on, bands playing, and people are holding the funniest signs. Some of my favorites included:

 

Lebron James would be cramping by now (mile 2)

 

Smile if you're not wearing panties (Addie made this sign for me)

 

Bikes for rent - stop by if interested

 

Chuck Norris never ran a half marathon

 

You're running better than the government

 

While I was approaching the finish line I had my own cheering section. My sister, brother in law, Ricky, Sophia, Addie, Jaxon and El were all cheering for me. Addie even made me acouple signs.

 

Soph and I post race:

 

 We tried to get a family pic but Soph was over it:

 How cute is Addie with the signs she made me:

 I had some issues with my panties last year so this sign was hilarious:

 My sister (who is a great gift buyer) bought me this sign for my birthday. I love it and finally filled it. From left to right - 1/4 marathon, 4 miler, 1/2 marathon, 1/2 marathon, 5k and the last is from a 10k. I ran these races in the past year and am very proud of myself. I'm not a runner, in fact, I hate running but I love races.

 My time - 2 hours, 15 mins. The course was 13.1 miles, my pace was 10:15 per mile and I burned 1,571 calories. I was impressed as my time last year was only 6 minutes better.

 Love my cheerleaders:

 Misty got a picture of me waving to them:

 A big thank you to my biggest cheerleader, Misty. Not only did she watch Sophia this morning (since El was at work and I had to leave at 5:20 a.m.), she brought Soph and the Beaty crew down to cheer me on and made sure I had some signs (she knows I'm a sucker for signs). She's the best sister in the world!!

Thank you, Elliott for supporting me the past year in my running adventure. Thank you for staying awake after working 8 hours and being dead tired on Sunday mornings so I can run my long runs. I hope you'll start running so we can cross the finish line together some day!