It's raining, it's pouring....my 4th half marathon!

 Keeping dry during the 30 minute delay due to lightening....little did we know it would rain for the duration of BOTH of our races! 

Today marked the last step to accomplishing my goal of running four 1/2 marathons in one year.  We


Chad's second full marathon!!!!

 expected it to be cool and windy but there was only a 30% chance or rain in the forecast.  When the alarm went off at 4 a.m. a quick look at the radar proved that the previous prediction was perhaps a bit of an understatement.  It wasn't raining as we waited for the shuttle bus to arrive, but there was lightening and rumbles of thunder in the distance.  As we took off for downtown OKC, the rain started and we learned once we arrived of the 30 minute delay for severe weather. 

It was a bit of a mad dash to get our gear checked in after the delay (in the rain) and try to get in line with 25,000 other runners. And I didn't handle that well.....sorry Chad! :)  We had to run in the back of the pack which meant a slow start for both of us, but Chad was off quickly to a great start.  We both had hoped the rain would lift at some point during our race....we were both wrong.

With temperatures in the upper 40's and lower 50's (didn't we travel south for this race????) it was a cool run to say the least.  I didn't mind it too much as Chad's awesome rain jacket kept me warm...but with no hat I was soaked from the shoulders up.  My feet did okay until around mile 6 when I started to feel the squish of water in my soaked socks and shoes.  During mile 7 we were hailed on briefly (yes HAIL) and I was ready to quit.  But the amazing water/aid stations kept me going and thankfully my MP3 player was under enough layers that it also kept going.  Many runners had extra bibs on running in honor of others.  At mile 11 I came across one woman running with one and I asked her who Blaine was which was the name on her "in honor of" bib.  She then told me he was a young boy who was killed in the OKC bombing 16 years ago.  I told her I was praying for him and his family right now.....and then I was glad to have the rain to hide the tears as I continued my pace.  Running in these conditions were rough, but this woman gave me true perspective just when I needed it.

My goal was just to finish this race.....saying I ran two half marathons in two weeks seemed like a pretty awesome accomplishment for this girl!  It was pouring rain when I crossed the finish line....I would have liked to seen a faster time than 2:16:05, but considering the conditions it still felt good that I battled through and didn't quit.  This is my slowest time..... but I wasn't finished at this point.

After battling the crowds, convincing the man at gear check out to let me have my bag and give it back to him and trying to make sense of where the marathon course was, I took out hoping to find Chad.  It took about 2 miles of walking (did I mention it was still pouring rain) when I made it back to the marathon course in time to stretch a bit, find cover from the rain in a porta-potty for a second (yikes, but anything dry and warm would do at that point) and finally I found Chad coming around mile 24 and starting running again with him. Did I also mention it hailed on us again around mile 25???? 

I am still in awe that he ran the full marathon!  Helping him run the last 2 miles was the least I could do and being there when he crossed the finish line was so special.  He did amazing and had a PR by over 38 minutes!

May 2, 2010 I ran my first half marathon in Lincoln, NE.  Who would have thought one year later that I could possibly run three more??? Sorry I don't have many pictures from today.  The monsoon like conditions pretty much took care of any photo ops!