Guest Blogger.

Yesterday, my beautiful sister-in-law 'Doc' and her cute husband 'Clark', ran a Half-Marathon. They are super-stars. Clark declared "he would never do that again" to which Coach and I replied "ah shucks, we were totally gonna join you next year... bummer..."
Doc emailed the following note, to me this morning.
To help prepare us, for next year. Sure.. Ok.



Written by Doc:

Some "thoughts" before and during the 1/2 marathon: (what to expect when you & Coach run your 1/2 with 'Clark' next year!)

Night before: Need to wear cute outfit (because we all know I'm not the cute runner you are @5:00 a.m.)

Morning of: Put on cute outfit, hope the weather cooperates with the cute outfit - will make necessary changes to wardrobe when we get there. Mom arrives 5:00a.m. to watch the kids for us. In-laws arrive 5:15a.m. to car pool to the race. Packed extra clothes in case of rain. Head off to race! Feeling good, worried about 'Clark' cuz he's usually not up at 4:30a.m.

Parked in a great spot: easy out, close to starting line. We were early and it was cold outside so we hung in the car for awhile. Cold was good for the cute outfit! Met up with friends, still excited, need to stretch.

Time to line up: Kristi and I decide to go to the bathroom one more time, even though we stopped at McDonalds to go. Both stops were a very good choice, ready to run now.

Line up: Got back in time to wish the relatives a good race and watched them walk closer to the starting line (they run much faster than I). Slight delay with start, enjoying hanging out with my friends. Very excited at this time, can't wait to start, we are all laughing and smiling, great times!

Start: We are further back (probably 7,000 people in front of us including the relatives). Slowly we make our way to the start line and begin running. AMAZING! Here we go, people cheering, we are running and feeling great!

Miles 1-5: Feeling great, happy for the entertainment and people to cheer us on. Sometimes talking to my friends (like "did you see that sign?" or " he is running bare foot!". The three of us stayed together, feeling like rock stars.

Miles 6-7: Still running feeling pretty good, one friend is in the zone and she starts pulling away. I can still see her at turns and corners. Very happy I could stay with her as long as I did. Hoping to finish strong.

Miles 8-10: Thinking I need to get to mile 10 then it's just a 5K, I can handle that. Part of this stretch went around a park where the trail narrowed, I don't know why this area was so difficult (mentally), I think I just wanted to get to mile 10. At this point my thighs were feeling heavy but I was still feeling strong.

Mile 10: Feeling pretty good, had some water and a mental chat. Just take one mile at a time. I can do this! People are yelling just a 5K left! you can do this!

Mile 11: Get to mile 12 then you are home free. Keep running don't even think about walking, finish strong.

Mile 12: When you get to mile 12 you can now see the stadium where the finish line is. This is not good, because I know we are going to run around the stadium for 1.1 more miles. NOT GOOD!! The 2:20 pacer keeps catching up to me, I wanted to stay in front of her. If I did I would have a better time than my last 1/2. So every time she crept up on me I tried to move faster. At this point I just want to get IN the stadium. At every turn I'm hoping to see runners entering the stadium, but I don't, I'm also looking for my friends, but don't see them either!

Mile 12 3/4th ish: A stretcher comes out of the stadium, crosses our running path and into the ambulance. Feeling bad for the runner, but glad that is not me. Two more turns to go.

Finale: Finally, I see the entrance but first need to conquer a slight hill (in real life probably not much of an incline, but at this time it's a monster and my thighs noticed the "slight" incline). We run in the tunnel to the 50 yard line, which was a lot of fun, feeling like Rudy, I tried to pick up speed (I felt like I did, but the spectators probably didn't notice my burst of lightening speed). Look up at the clock which read 2:58:something, very disappointed. Finished as strong as I could, just needed some water. Walking, walking, where the heck is the water! I felt like I walked a mile to find the water!! Got my water, delicious. Now I need to find friends and family. I didn't find anybody, they were able to find me! When I saw 'Clark', the first thing I noticed was his bloody shirt, he hadn't noticed this issue yet. I felt bad for him and his left nipple. Glad the race was over and felt I did a pretty good job, I left everything on the road. Then I realized, I probably looked at the marathon runners clock, I would just wait to check our official times on-line.

Official time: 2:17:45 AMAZING!
I did my best and amazed myself! Great run!

Best signs during run: "Run like you stole something", "5.9 miles till beer". Best t-shirt: "18 days ago this sounded like a good idea"

A little insight for you and your lover for next year!!
Enjoy!!!

Clark's Finish: 2:11:29
*********************************

Doc, is an amazing athlete and wonderful sister. But that girl is Bat $hit KaaaRaZy, if she thinks I will really retain this advice for my own Half-Marathon. I don't care how many exclamation points, she uses.
Never. Gonna. Happen.