WARNING....WARNING.....WARNING....this is a picture heavy post .
I am being selfish here, but I wanted to document our big day ,last Saturday, when we ran the Kansas City Half-Marathon. I hope my running friends will enjoy this and my non-running friends will tolerate it! :)
Karen and I worked hard all summer to prepare for the last half we did in September and then this one. We have one more lined up in November.....then that's that for 2015. That's plenty. :)
We ended our training for the KC Half by meeting up early the morning before for a short run. The trail was dark at 5:30 a.m., so the headlamps were necessary!

Later on Friday, Mary and I attended the "packet pickup" for the run. This great sign was outside the entrance to the expo.

We studied the course map that showed the routes for all of the events to be held the next morning: the 5k, the half and the marathon! It was the same route as the one we ran the year before. . .killer hills in the first three miles. :)

We went to the "pacer booth" to pick up "pace bracelets" to wear during the run so we could monitor the progress (time wise) we would be making along the way. The picture shows some of the "pacer sticks" that are carried by amazing runners.
The first year we did the half we sorta "fell" into the 2:50 group (two hours and 50 minutes, meaning if we stayed with them we would most likely finish the run in that amount of time). We actually did just that. Last year, Karen and I just wanted to do as well as the previous year. . .so we stuck again with the 2:50 pacing group AND we came in right at that time. This year, we still planned on using intervals of run/walking, but we had been training all summer to use 1 min. walking rather than 2 min., but still keep the runing intervals at 3 minutes.
I spoke at great length with Vita, who also paced the half we had done in Sept.. . . we were able to stay with her group. For this run, she was pacing the 2:45. . .so I picked up bracelets for the 2:45 AND (being real hopeful) the 2:40 times.

While I've loved this run each time I've done it, this year was truly a bit more special because my son and daughter ran it, too (yes, they ran it a lot faster)! Here we are not too long before we got in the corral to start the run. We had hoped to meet up with a few others for a group picture, but that didn't happen. It's pretty crazy at these huge runs. . . and it's hard to actually "find" folks some times.

We ended up being almost as far back in the crowd as you can go by the time we lined up. Looking north, in the direction we would soon be running, I couldn't even see the 2:40 or 2:45 pacers, but that was OK, cuz I figured we'd catch them at some point along the route.

And wouldn't you know it. . . .two of the folks we had hoped to take a pre-run photo with actually FOUND us in that pack of people!!
This was the first half for three in this photo. . .so that really added to the excitement of that moment. I had my son take our picture. Left to Right: Julie, Sue, Bridget (all about to run their first half marathon) Mary, Karen and I'm in the middle front. We are all in a running group that meets once a week on the local trail!

One of the things that makes this half so special is that it takes us through so many of the great "spots" of Kansas City. The first mile goes by the SPRINT CENTER. . .that's quiet a feeling to run by that enormous structure.

Mile two goes up the VERY CHALLENGING "hospital hill" (really more than one hill), then in another mile we are at the LIBERTY MEMORIAL/WWI MUSEUM. This is one of the best parts of the run to me as we are heading toward that awesome monument.

We are so lucky to have photographers (provided by the event!) who take our pictures along the way. (AND the photos are FREE on line later).
I have fianlly learned to be on alert for them, because I have been captured with the most horrible looks on my face during various runs. Mercifully, I saw this one in time to wave and smile. It was also still early in the distance.....10.1 miles to go!

After we left Liberty Memorial, we had the last awful hill, then made our way through the mid-town area, then over through another neat part of town that's full of fun shops and restaurants : WESTPORT. I didn't take a bunch of photos there as we starting to "feel" the run. I'm thinking that was round miles 5 - 6....I may be off. Anyway, we headed South on Roanoke which is residential. That's where we were when we saw this puppy handing our hi-fives.

Next, we found ourselves in another pretty part of town, The Country Club Plaza. The Plaza is full of fine shops, dining venues, fountains and beautiful buildings.

ROYALS flags were waving in the breeze as with headed East through The Plaza.

We were on the look out for this lovely lady...Fritzi!! She was the course monitor for the spot where the half marathoners turned left and the marathoners turned right! This was right before mile 8!

Fritzi is known in our area as a great runner and supporter of the running community. She's one of the first "real runners" I met when I started my own running journey five years ago. I have so much admiration for her.

I didn't take many photos from this point on......with 5 more miles left to go, I was just trying to "get this over with"! I did manage to catch up with the 2:45 group at some point......I don't recall just when. I know we ran north on the beautiful Harrison Parkway for quite awhile, then we turned right and got on Paseo Blvd. until we reached 18th street.

By this point a nice young man struck up a conversation with me (I think he thought I was nuts taking pictures of the mile markers). Anyway, he wanted to know how long I'd been doing half-marathons. . .of couse I'm thinking "he figures if that old lady can do it I know I can "......I answered this was "my third time to do this particular run and my third half for the year" and that I had one more "planned in a month". He then said he thought "women did better at running long distances than men" ( was he thinking the old lady is able to do it because she's a she and not a he? ).....I said well, I didn't think that "was true" and yet while there were usually more women running the halfs I'd done, that most of the marathoners seemed to be men. With that, we had a nice chat for that looong last mile to where we turned and headed for the finish line. I really appreciated that distration, because that last mile seems like forty.

The first time I crossed that finish line, in 2013, I cried. It was such an accomplishment for me. This year, I just felt great that I had actually crossed it and still felt pretty decent....that's definitely an improvement. My time was 6 min. faster than the years before AND my son was waiting for me. He'd crossed a long time before I did. . .with a great time....and he was cold and ready to go home! :)

One of the best parts of the "post race" festivities is taking advantage of the free cup of beer and the sandwich. I never would have thought that a cold beer would taste so good as it does right after I'd just completed a half....but it's wonderful!

We didn't stay too long after the run. . .we had our beer and food and checked our "official times" and spent a bit of time just trying to catch up on how we were all feeling now that it was over. We were tired and starting to get cold. However, we had to take a few moments to get our "post run" picture in front of the fountains at Crown Center. Once again, they are BLUE this year in honor of our hometown boys THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS who , we hope, will get to play in the World Series again this year!
L to R: Karen, Pan, me, Mary

THE STONE RABBIT really loved our Half Marathon goodies!! The finishers medal and the personalized race bibs were great. . and WOW, what an awesome shirt! Most of all, he loved seeing all of the pictures and hearing all about our experience. He's such a supportive rabbit!

So that's it. . .you really are lucky cuz I do have lots more pictures. .. I held myself back! haha
I hope you won't hold back about visiting Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND because there will be a lot of other bloggers who are ready to share their posts with you, too!
Have a great PINK SATURDAY!
DANA
