Mad City Marathon - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

SO, this is going to be LONG....

This is my first realy race since starting treatment for breast cancer in November of 2008. I will continue with treatment until November of 2009. I did do the Des Moines Marathon 2 days before I had my bilateral mastectomy, so this was my day...Here goes....

Wow, what a great day!!!!! First, I really have to thank my friend Jenny Albrecht, who I have known since we were in first grade (I am 40 now, so I will let you do the math) who ran the entire time with me. Without her, I would not have finished the half marathon. She was helping me keep pace, stay strong and finish strong. I really felt blessed today having her there with me. She is normally much faster than I am, so even more so, I thank you Jenny. And we had a great time :-).

The day really was perfect. Brendon and I got up at about 4:45am to get ready to head out. I was a bit tired for two reasons. I am still not over this cough/cold I have been fighting for almost 2 weeks and our puppy Ted kept wanting to get up to go out in the middle of the night. Seriously??? He has been sleeping through the night this past week or two, so I thought it would be more of the same. Not so much.

We got to the Alliant Energy Center at about 6:00, race started at 7:00. Perfect timing. Got a great parking spot. Walked around, watched people file in....good times. Got to see a bunch of people we knew, so that is always fun. One friend who I had not seen in a long time asked, why did you cut your hair so short??? I am enjoying the fact that I can actually put a little mousse in my hair and it kind of looks like a style. I am longing for the day I can have a ponytail!!! Had the cancer conversation...move on.

Found Jenny or Jenny found us and we headed over to the starting line. Jenny and I decided to put ourselves with the 2:10 pacer, and go from there. My PR is 2:05. I knew I wouldn't be hitting that today, but thought if we started close to that, we could always adjust. Gave Brendon a kiss goodbye...he runs his half mary in less than 2 hours, so didn't want him to start slower. Got started, Jenny and I set our plan as to how we were going to get through the race today. We walked through all the water stations (I cannot run and drink water at the same time), walked through one beer station...I had a couple of sips, but did not taste great. The first 7 miles flew by. Great pace, great conversation, great scenery. Kept pace with the Garmin. Gotta love that thing! It helped us stay on track and told us when we needed to slow down or speed up.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect! Jenny peeled off at about mile 9 for a minute, so I walked for a minute then would run, would run backwards to see if I could find her. Came across a couple of women who were so cute. They were saying, "Just think, what we have left is like running to the Piggly Wiggly and back"...So I chimed in...can't not chat with someone and said, "Perfect...you have done it many times, you can do it today". They smiled and we kept going. Jenny and I reconnected at about mile 10 and set in for the finish. My legs were getting tired. My body was getting tired. We were slowing down a bit, or I was slowing down a bit. Jenny just kept me going. She came up with things to chat about and most times, she just talked, but it was wonderful to have her there. She shared her marathon experience with me during our run...she did the Madison Full Marathon last year, amazing woman she is.

At mile 11, Jenny said, "Now that we are almost done, I have to tell you that I thought you were crazy for doing this, but if anyone could do it, you could"...I told her that this past week, I thought I was a little crazy as well.

At mile 12, I was beat....just a little bit longer. Had 2 walk just before the final turn ...my "friends" I made on the course, said the Piggly Wiggly is just around the corner :-)...those were good words to hear. Just before we hit the final turn, we started running, Jenny asked if I had anything left in me, and I did...just a little, she pushed me to head in strong for the last .4 of the race. When we got to the where the chute was about 100 yeards or so away, Jenny said let's sprint! Crossed that finish line and whew....I was beat, immediately started crying. All those emotions just came up...I have a feeling that all of my races this year will be emotional ones. I really felt awesome that I finished strong 2:17:45, only 12 minutes behind my PR...not too shabby for still having that life saving poison course through my veins every three weeks...I couldn't really even run more than 2-3 miles 8 weeks ago...so a big accomplishment. Today, this race was my big F-You to cancer.



Absolutely nothing!!!!!

After the race, Brendon found us at the finish line. He did really well, finishing at about 1:54! And he didn't really train at all...UGH, he loves to do that. Don't ask me why, but he does. I said, just think of what your time would be if you ACTUALLY trained! He said he likes doing the half this way. It makes it harder.

Brendon and I walked around, got our chocolate milk, he got a beer, then we walked over to the worlds largest brat fest! Had my 1 brat, walkeed around with Craig and Amy Jo. Great to meet Craig!!! Then ran into some women from the Janesville Athletic Club where I teach. Saw some other friends, then I needed to go home. I was exhausted and wasn't feeling so hot.




Cancer treatment, but, hey I will love the cancer treatment so I can be here for my husband, children, family and friends.


Love this race and everything about it.