Kaiser Half Marathon-Winner!!

What a wonderful week this has been! It's had its ups and downs but all in all it has turned out to be a good one. I've tried different things in my running to find a comfortable pace for building and running longer distances. Sometimes I like it and other times I do not but I did what I planned for that run. I'm learning discipline though it seems I'm kicking and screaming at times. BUT, I'm learning and that's what it's all about.

I'll have to admit that I was worried about the Kaiser Half Marathon today. I do this every time I've run a half. With tapering a couple of weeks to the race, it makes me feel like it's been so long since I've done a decent distant run that I'm afraid my legs will forget how to go that distance. But they have never failed me and have proven to me each time that they are rested and ready for the race. Up to this race, my goal has been to run it's entirety without walking. I know this probably sounds a little stupid but I don't have a lot of confidence in my ability so far. After the race today, I can confidently say that I don't expect to walk one. I felt well and continued with a faster pace than originally planned.

We went to pick up our race packet yesterday at Tacky Jack's. We received a large nice bag loaded with all kinds of goodies. By goodies, I do not mean a bunch of advertisements and pamphlets that find their way to the garbage pretty quickly. There were all kinds of tickets for FREE meals, discounts, running equipment, gels...well, you get the idea. Here's a picture of our bags (mine first).



They were a little different. While there we enjoyed great endless nachos and fried dill pickles with Ranch dressing...yummm!!! The second is my favorite! We went back to the camper and rested a little then went back to TJ's for dinner. Yep, you guessed it, we had a spaghetti dinner compliments of the race. The salad was large and we must have gotten a pound of cooked spaghetti each. It was huge!! I took about 2/3 of mine away; I was so full.

Kent got me crossing the Finish Line...woo-hoo!!


I met a nice lady that was in excellent shape. I had seen her run passed the camper a couple of times and she ran in the half today. Afterwards, our paths crossed again. She is from Ontario and has run for over 30 years. But that wasn't the amazing part. She is 74 years old and has run over 100 marathons and many ultras, even a marathon on the Great Wall of China!!! She looked great! Should I say that she finished first in her age group?? She was lively and happy. She is in red and black and hugging Mr. Kaiser (Kaiser Realty) here:


A 23 year old friend of mine and her mother came to run in the half marathon and I was looking forward to seeing them. Deanna and I worked together in Day Camp a couple of years ago. This was her second half to run and her mother's first. We ran together for almost half the race then she ran on a little ahead. Deanna never got out of sight but kept a good pace. I walked through two of the water stops to get a couple of swigs down and keep from dehydrating. She never stopped putting a little more distance between us each time. She did excellent and we ended up being only a minute apart at the end. Good job, Deanna!!


Here's the medal we received; we also got a finishers cup.


After the race, Lester's Restaurant provided vegetable soup, chili, and red beans and rice. There were also hot dogs and homemade hamburgers as well as drinks, chips, and different fruits.

The best part of the whole thing was when I found out that I had placed in my age group!! Never in a million years would I ever expect to do well in a long race. I was so surprised; you can't imagine. They had stands for winners to stand on to receive their awards and have their pictures taken...like Olympians. And, yeah, this will be the closest I get to that one!


Here are some things I got for winning, too.


The coasters are beautifully carved with Kaiser Half Marathon info on it.

And last, but NOT least, the door prizes were amazing. They had great ones for the 5k then more for the half marathon participants. Kent's number was called and he got this great Garmin watch...can you believe they gave these out?? They had 5 of these and a couple of iPads for BOTH drawings.


I know this is a long post but there was so much to say. A lot of our friends ran in the Stennis Half Marathon today and all of them did excellent! Congratulations to all of you, too.