Race pictures

This picture was taken after we arrived home with our medals still on.
I mentioned earlier that I would post some pictures and blog more about our marathon race. It was the first marathon race in the Champaign/Urbana area. They had over 9500 participants in either a 5K, half marathon, or full marathon. People from all over the world came to run. Some were qualifying for the Boston marathon.
Although I don't like running, the environment of the marathon race was awesome. It was really neat to see the stampede of people running in front of me, and hear community members cheering us on throughout the entire 13.1 miles. I can't speak for Bruce, but I actually had a lot of fun running it.
The first 6 miles went by really fast. At mile 7, my calves started hurting and cramping. This made me nervous since I was only half way finished. I kept pushing forward, and they eventually stopped. At mile 9 my thighs started cramping. Mile 10 and 11 were extremely difficult. I honestly didn't think I was going to make it through since I hadn't ever run this far. After I passed mile marker 12, I knew I only had 1 mile to go and I picked up the pace a little. When I saw Memorial Stadium and was near the finish line, I started sprinting. I entered the stadium and realized I had to run the full 100 yards of the stadium, then circle back to the 50 yard line to the finish line. At this point I was actually running out of breath, but I pushed forward and sprinted as fast as I could. With 10 yards to go, I heard the announcer call my name as coming across and I saw myself actually cross the finish line on the big screen. I ended up crossing the finish line 3 seconds ahead of Bruce, and the announcer didn't call his name. I'm sorry Bruce!
It was a neat experience for me. I thought about training harder and doing the full marathon next year, but that is still under careful scrutiny. I haven't run since. It took me a couple of days to get over the stiffness, and then I haven't had much free time to run. I don't feel like I have to sacrifice things anymore since the race is over. Hopefully next week I will start running again. Even though it is not my favorite past time, I feel like I am in pretty good shape.
Enjoy the pictures. We didn't have a camera. Here is a link to the pictures taken of me by the marathon group.

Here is a link for Bruce's pictures

Here are some pictures our friends took of them running.