2012 Monster Dash

Yeah!  I finished my first 1/2 marathon, 13.1 miles, on the 27th of October.  Life continues to be so busy that I'm just now getting to writing about it.  Everything came together and all my worries about getting sick, cramping, blisters, injury, stomach trouble, and everything else didn't happen.  I beat my goal of 2:20 and got 2:18:25.  Of course after the race I thought, "I could have gone faster."  I guess that means I should try for another one.  I'd love to break 2 hours someday. 

One fun thing about the Monster Dash is that since it's right before Halloween they encourage costumes for the race.  It's pretty entertaining to see all the creative costumes as you're running.  A few days before the race I talked to some of my friends running it and we quickly put together some Super Mom capes with our kids initials at the bottom.  MaryAnn Carlisle's sister-in-law, Erica, drove up from Iowa to run it and was carpooling with us so we made her a cape too.  She doesn't have kids yet so we put Future Super Mom.  The funny thing is that during the race people took that to mean she was pregnant and she totally went with it.  Kami Oldroyd has 6 kids and Barb Woodward, my main training partner, has 3 kids.  We were planning to enter the group costume contest but by the time we decided to go to register for it, it had filled up.  They took pictures of the groups they had to turn away and we ended up being selected as a winner.  During the race it was fun to have people call out to us or try and figure out what the letters at the bottom of our capes meant.

It was a beautiful course around St. Paul.  I loved running by all the old mansions and looking out over the river.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed the run compared to my training runs.  

Mike and the kids came down to support me and I ended up seeing them twice during the race, first at mile 6 and then again just before the finish at mile 13.  I know it was difficult for Mike to get around the course with all the kids and the double stroller but he planned out the bus routes and made it happen.  It was fun to be able to see them and gave me an extra boost to have them there.

My speedy father-in-law (and I'm not just saying that- remember he qualified for the Boston Marathon this year) also ran the race getting a PR of 1:43:30.  He helped me train for the race and gave me many useful tips for helping my form, battling injury, running equipment, and race day experience.  He greeted me shortly after I crossed the finish line and it was nice to see him there.  Thanks for all the help Dad Gray!

Here we are after the race.

We wanted to meet Dad Gray for lunch but after 20 minutes of not even being able to get out of our parking space because of traffic we changed plans.  Instead we walked to the Science Museum (we're members) had lunch and watched an Omni movie while we waited for traffic to clear. 

 Here's the kids with a guy at the museum.