Back in August, 2011 I cheered my Dad on as he ran Pikes Peak Ascent (the 1/2 marathon) and when he finished I promised him and myself that I would do the Pikes Peak Marathon with him in 2012. Having had no running base prior to that I sure had a long road ahead of me. Since then I did the Day of the Tread 5K in Albuquerque, Duke City 10K in Albuquerque and now completed this 1/2 Marathon. With my time (2:26:03) I qualified for Pikes Peak Ascent. This will be my back up plan just in case I don’t qualify for the marathon. BUT, I won’t need a back up plan! 😉 I need to run a full marathon in less than 5.5 hours to qualify for Pikes Peak Marathon before March 1, 2011. I am set to run the IMS marathon in Phoenix February 19, 2012 and am hoping for a time of 5 hours or less.
I must say I had a BLAST at the Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon. The feeling is truly 1 of a kind. It was amazing how many people came out to support this race and cheer us all on! It seemed like there were spectators, cheerleaders, bells, bull horns, whistles, signs (you name it) on every inch of that course. In some places the crowd was 2 or 3 people deep! It was well supported with plenty of hydration stations. Mile 5-7 I was still feeling fresh and ready to conquer the world! Mile 8 for some reason I had second thoughts of why I was running but that only lasted about a minute or so. I think anyone that has run any sort of distance at some point has these thoughts go thru their head. I just blew it off and kept running. Mile 12 I saw my buddy Charlie and he gave me huge high five and kept me pumped up prior to crossing the bridge. He said I crossed a bridge but I don’t remember it. Obviously I had to cross the bridge because I didn’t swim in the lake to get to the other side! Who knows, all that excitement was a blur! 🙂 Somehow right at Mile 13 I spotted Stephen in a crowd of thousands of people (probably because he was cheering frantically) then momentarily after that I saw my Dad, Christine and Paul. It was such a great feeling having them there cheer me on!! I ran as fast as I could to cross the finish line with a BIG smile. What a day!!
