our weekend- Part One

We had a great (and FULL) weekend! I'll break it down into three-ish parts, beginning with our race!

We raced out of town Friday afternoon, and made it to Louisville around 8pm. We had to pick our race packets up by 9, so we were glad we made it in time. David ran into a guy from college at the Expo, which was really fun. After grabbing some quick carbs and checking into our hotel, we hit the hay! 5am came way too quickly Saturday morning, but we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get settled at the race. Fortunately, we got an amazing parking spot (literally 100 yards away from the start line) and had lots of time to hang out in the car before lining up.

I could give you a play-by-play of the race, but that would be boring. There are a few noteworthy highlights:

• There were lots of crowds along the race route, but they mostly weren't very encouraging! I was frustrated that everyone was only looking for their one friend/aunt/co-worker to cheer for and ignoring the rest of us. And then... I saw someone holding a sign that said "Hello stranger, I'm proud of you!" The sign alone was awesome, but I looked down and the girl holding it was a friend of mine from college (Katrina Roger)!! Jesus was so sweet to send me that encouragement exactly at the point I needed it.
• I saw another guy from college (Matt King) watching along the race route too. I probably looked a fool when I called out to him waving vigorously. I was super excited, to say the least.
• The course was boring, but almost entirely flat. We'll take boring and flat over exciting and hilly any day!
• The best decision I made that day was to bring my chapstick with me. I reapplied 4x.
• I ran a half-marathon in 2008 in 2 hours, 36 minutes.
• David's goal: under 2 hours
• My goal: finish without having to stop and walk

Our results:

David: 1:52, 8:35 pace, 1,771st place (11,394 total)

Emily: 2:11, 10:01 pace, 4,659th place (11,394 total)

We did it! I'm SUPER proud of David. Especially when you consider that we trained for 6 weeks, and David had never run long distances before then, he's doing a fabulous job. Now we're on the lookout for one more half marathon and a full (for D to run) this year!

David's favorite part of the race?

There was a Skyline close to our hotel. He ate FOUR chili cheese sandwiches in 3 minutes! Obviously he was super hungry, and the boy loves Skyline.

If you're squeamish, stop here...

I was foolish enough to NOT listen to all the advice about getting new shoes before the race. I thought I could make it through with my current, worn out pair... and well, I did, but it came at a price. I had/have some for real blisters as a result. These pictures really don't do them justice.

Left foot: huge blister on my big toe and just about every other toe...

Right foot: GIANT blood blister (looks like a blueberry) between my toes

Needless to say, walking has been interesting this weekend. Crocs are my new best friend.

Part Two of our weekend was church Sunday night. Afterwards, we stuck around for Max Linhosses dedication. Of course, I forgot my camera, but it really was a special time to be with our friends as they dedicate their child to the Lord.