Best. Day. Ever.

Wow!  I'm not quite sure where to start.  I'm sure you all really want to know about how Mark popped the question.  But I'm going to make you listen (well, read really) all about the race first.  In yesterday's blog, I rambled about my deep affection for New Orleans, so I'll spare you that - except to say now I love it even more.

The weather couldn't have been special ordered any better.  I didn't look, but I'm guessing it was 50ish when we started. A little chilly, but it felt good once we got going.  I stayed pretty close to Erin, Gail and Mark at the beginning.  At about mile 1.5, Mark told me I was going too fast for him.  I offered to slow down but he told me to keep going.  Not essential to the story - but it's good to know for later.

I wasn't sure I could PR much less hit my goal time of 2:30.  But after some encouraging words from Joe a couple days ago and several pep talks to myself, I decided to try. Before leaving the hotel this morning I looked at the chart for what pace I needed to keep to hit 2:30.  11:26 per mile.  Wow, that's almost a minute faster than I normally go, and faster than I've ever run any race, including a 5k.  It seemed hard but not impossible.  I've always read your long runs should be a minute slower than your race pace.  I thought I could reverse the logic and try to run a minute faster than my long run pace.

I felt great nearly the whole race.  I finally found the elusive runner's high.  I think I floated from mile 6 to mile 8.  I ran longer than the 3/1 intervals my watch was programmed for.  I couldn't have ask for it to have gone much better.  At mile 11, I started to feel tired and achy...and had to continue my pep talk to myself.  It was great to see Lou and Byron near the end.  The course was very flat.  But it was also uneven and full of holes and cracks.  Let's all be glad that I managed to stay upright and not fall during the race.

I rarely keep track of my average pace or total time during a race.  Usually it depresses me.  Today I watched it like a hawk.  I did great through mile 10 but slowed down a few seconds per mile the last 3 miles.  The end result.  2:30:49!!!  I was on top of the world!  Or so I thought.  I went to where I had seen Lou and Byron to see if anyone else had finished and hopefully to see Mark come in. 

Mark set a new personal record too - 2:45.  When I saw him about to cross the finish line, he asked me to meet him at the end.  If you ever done a Rock n Roll race you know it's nearly impossible to get back into the finisher's area after you leave.  If you haven't done one, once you leave it's guarded and there's no getting back in.  I'm not usually much of a rule follower, but I also don't like conflict, so I wasn't terribly excited to argue with the guard to get back to the area. 

I stretched the truth just a little to get back inside.  The lady was not letting me in, so I said my boyfriend might be in the medical tent, and I needed to check.  I mean, he could have been there, I didn't know for absolutely sure he wasn't.  She was still telling me no and lecturing me when I just walked on in. When I found Mark, he wanted to get our picture made in front of the Rock n Roll backdrop - something I ususally skip.  But I thought it sounded sweet.  At this point there's a huge line of finishers waiting to get their picture made.  Luckily, Mark had already talked to the photographer and asked if he would make our picture - I'm sure he'd told the photographer what his real plan was.

As we move in front of the background, Mark drops down to one knee and pulls out a ring.  I'm shocked!  I'm pretty sure he asked me 3 times before I could say something besides "oh my gosh!"  Of course, I did say yes.  Luckily, Chrystyna and Nicole finished soon after Mark and were able to take pictures of us.  Something else you should know about this race series...the pictures are ridiculously expensive.  But I'm sure I'll be buying the one from today! 

Mark told me he wanted to ask me at mile 5, but I was too fast.  Which is not something I hear very often!  Mile 5 was to signify the 5 years we've been together.  Yes, I am a very patient person.  I hate that I messed up his sweet plan.  But now I'm engaged and I have a stellar new PR plus there were camera's there to catch our happy moment.  Now I'm really on top of the world.  Best day ever! 

Race Day Confession

Today, I ran the Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon. It was my 3rd half marathon. The course was beautiful! It was a great way to see the city. My training had a little bit of a set back about 6 weeks ago when I tripped on a hickory nut and fell during a training run. I sprained my left ankle and scraped up my right knee pretty bad, and worse, had to take a couple weeks off from running.

The race started off great. I was running just over a 12 minute pace at the 3 mile mark. I was feeling really good about my run so far. Usually, the first 3 miles are my least favorite, but I felt awesome and was making great time. And I must have not been paying much attention, because the next thing I know I was literally being picked up off the ground by a really nice man behind me.


My fall was caused by a place in the road that was broken up and my over confidence and lack of attention to the road in front of me. I reinjured my ankle and scraped up my knee again. UGH! I spent about 10 minutes sitting on the sidewalk in tears hoping I could at least finish the race, but it seemed unlikely since I still had 10 miles to go.


After feeling sorry for myself for a while, I got up and hobbled a few minutes. I decided to test my ankle and see if I could run. I was able to run - most likely because I had my brace on my ankle which minimized the swelling. I was able to finish the race…just a little bit slower than I’d hoped.


Mark always does a great job finding a tall place to stand and cheer for me. I was afraid he would see my knee, which had been bleeding, at mile 6, but he couldn’t see it. It was definitely a tough mental race after I fell. But I’m really glad I could/did keep going!


The highlights of the race - besides the incredible views - were misting stations, ice cold sponges at mile 10, an icy cold towel and popsicles at the end of the run. I had been expecting it to be a little cooler, and actually the first half of the race felt great and then all of sudden the temperature skyrocketed!


The very best part of the race was after I had finished. As I was walking to meet Mark at the family reunion area, a girl came up to me and told me I did a great job. She said she’d been running with me for the last several miles, and I helped her finish. Awwwwwww! This made the whole race so much better for me!