Life is Good!: joplin memorial run

Showing posts with label joplin memorial run. Show all posts

Monday, May 28, 2018

First half marathon in the books!

I did it!!

The Joplin Memorial Run was going to be my first half marathon. Shiloh and I talked about it 6 or 8 or 10 months ago, but time slowly passed and I never got into a training program. I ran off and on and had been working out, but in the weeks leading up to the race on May 19th, I really had gotten busy and not been doing as much as I would have liked.

Oh well, I decided to give it a try and just get one under my belt. We had a free place to stay and great support. Not just that, but the race has special meaning too. Shiloh and Chris lost their home and pretty much all of their belongings in the tornado that devastated Joplin. The final half-ish mile (maybe more) is lined with 161 giant flags each stating the name of someone who lost their life that day. You can see them in the photos. Drew ended up doing the 5k with Chris, and Shiloh ran the half with me. We all finished! I'm so glad we decided to go.

I may try to do another half the fall and see if I can actually stick to a training plan in hopes of getting a good time.

Coming down the home stretch!

Drew did great. His race results said he finished 106 overall, with a time of 26:25. That was 15th out of 49 in his age division and the 85th male.

I was very happy to cross the finish line. I came in 237 overall with a time of 2:12:57. I was 17th out of 75 in my age division and the 84th female. Now I have something to beat!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Joplin Memorial Run

Last Friday, I experienced my first overnight stay away from Cooper baby. Drew also experienced his first overnight alone with both kids! It was a success on all parts.

I had registered Drew and I both to participate in the Joplin Memorial Run. Unfortunately, we couldn't quite get the babysitting arrangements worked out, so Friday evening after work I drove the 2 hours alone to stay the night ahead of the race.

Chris had been training and was ready to participate in the half-marathon, while Shiloh was going to "run with me" in the 5k. She did, and then some (see mile #3 selfie). The start of the race already had me teary-eyed when I saw the young couple in front of us had brought a memorial arrangement to run with. They had also lined the last 1/2 or 3/4 mile (not sure?) of the run with 161 flags printed with the names of each tornado victim. That is quite a way to finish. Official time was 29:13. That was 210th place overall, 14th in my division, and 61st out of the females. I think altogether there were 2900ish runners in both races.

Note to self: next year, be prepared for a very fit person to be bored with a 5k and take selfies while running. (I'm considering trying for the half marathon instead and she's not allowed to run beside me)

We had a great time and though it was emotional at times, I enjoyed getting up at 5:30 to run for the cause. **See our shirts, they were also for a "cause". One of Drew's dispatchers has a 12 year-old daughter fighting leukemia for the second time. No one should take good health for granted!