Crazy Week - Great Weekend!

Jeremy and I have been training for the half-marathon, which was scheduled for October 3rd. The Sunday before the race, Cooper started running a fever and coughing. He ran fever till Tuesday morning and started telling us that his "mouth" (i.e., throat) hurt. So, we took him to the doctor to confirm what we already anticipated -- he had the H1N1 flu. J and I traded up staying home with him all week, and I worked SO diligently to keep J and I from getting sick. Cooper felt much better by Thursday, and J and I stayed well. I guess on the bright side, I don't have to worry about Cooper catching swine flu for the next month -- he's already had it.

So, Jeremy and I made it to the race without the flu. Since my last post, I have taken very good care of my knee -- icing, resting, and stretching. I also dropped one of my mid-week runs, so I was down to one 3-mile run on Tuesday (on a treadmill, which was a little easier on the knee) and then my long run on Saturday. I was hopeful that it would be enough to finish the race without walking at all. The good news is, it was. The race was FANTASTIC! I have said all along that this would be my first and last half marathon, and as fun as it was, I want to do another one. But, as fun as it was, I don't want to do another one. I don't think it could ever get better. My original goal when I began training was to finish in less than 2 hours, which means a 9:08 pace for each mile. But after I hurt my knee, my goal changed -- just finish the race.

About 8 miles in, though, I was feeling great. The weather was great, the course was great, everything was great. I turned to Jeremy and said, "I think we can do this in less than 2 hours." We were making great time, and I felt great. So we picked up the pace a little. Unfortunately, Jeremy's knees were killing him, so I ended up leaving him around 10 miles. I accidentally bumped my watch around 9 miles, so I didn't know how much longer I had till 2 hours. But I knew around 11 miles that it was going to be close. I crossed the finish line at 2 hours and 40 seconds (a 9:13 per mile pace). I was so happy to have done so much better than expected that I really couldn't be too disappointed to have missed the 2-hour mark. It was just a great race, and I am so happy that I reached my goal of running a half-marathon before I turned 30. (Jeremy came in at 2 hours and 6 minutes, which was 14 minutes faster than his first half-marathon back in April. He did great, and I am very proud of him!)

After the race, we went to the pumpkin patch down the road in Nolensville to pick out pumpkins. It was just a beautiful day to spend time outside. I LOVE this time of year!!