Half Marathon!

We did it! On Sunday, we ran the 2009 Lynn Electric Half-Marathon. It was cold and rainy, but the rain cleared up just before we started. There was, however plenty of wind in some spots which made us feel right at home. This photo, from the start of the race, shows our Tribune "Scuttlebutts" team plus a couple with Tribune connections. Brent is from Tribune and came up from Texas to join us. Then there's the Scuttlebutts: Rechelle, Jonathan, Robyn, and Lesa. And on the right end is Kinsey, also from Tribune and now studying in Lawrence. (We had a couple others who unfortunately weren't able to make it.)

It was a nice route through Lawrence and very well organized. There were a ton of volunteers and signs to point the way, lots of water stations, and road traffic was diverted or stopped to let runners go by. Our only complaint was that it ended at the Lied Center, which is on a hill. Let me tell you, the last thing you want for your last mile of a half-marathon is to run uphill into the wind!

Still, everyone in our group finished the marathon in under 3 hours, and though we're all still quite sore from it, we feel good. I finished in two hours and two minutes, and Robyn came in at about two hours 43 minutes. Ridley and Hania ran the last few yards to the finish line with Mommy. It's pretty cool to go from not being able to run for more than 30 seconds at a time to finishing a half marathon. I don't know that we're going to shoot for a full marathon anytime soon, but we're trying to set short-term goals to keep us in shape. There's a "Full Moon in June" night-time run coming up here in Tribune, and Robyn and I are hoping we can run in the Space Coast Half-Marathon at Thanksgiving if we can swing a trip to Florida then.