The Dow Family: Oklahoma City 13.1

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Oklahoma City 13.1

I have always been in slight awe of long distance runners but

I have never EVER considered myself a runner of any kind, much less a distance runner.

I never believed that I could run further than a 5K, much less enjoy it.

Never say never...

Kristin & Jessica, OKC Memorial Marathon 2012

I was first inspired to run by Kyle, my aunt Kathy, and uncle Ed when they ran in the St. Louis marathon five years ago. Unfortunately tendonitus & hip issues prevented me from running further than a couple of miles on top of not having the mental focus and desire to run very far.

THEN just last spring, when riding down to St. Louis to watch Jennifer run her 1^st ½ marathon, Jessica & I looked at each other and said it was cool and all but there was no WAY we would/could ever run that far. "People have gotta be ½ nuts to run that far on their own, without being held at gunpoint," was just one of the many phrases that came out of our mouths on that drive and the weeks preceeding the race.

As we stood on the sidewalk, watching thousands of people run by and seeing Jennifer flash us a big smile as she ran past us at mile 9, something shifted in our psyche. Something about being there, seeing her and that many people of all shapes & sizes running made us both retract our statements and actually consider doing it ourselves...

A few weeks later I ran my first 10K, doubling my furthest distance ever,

but my running abrubtly came to an end as I was 6 weeks pregnant with Owen.

Fast forward 1 year, and here we all are after the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

Jessica completed her 3^rd half-marathon, Kyle completed his 7^th FULL marathon

and I did my 1^st half! I didn't really have a specific time to shoot for so my main goal was to "run" the entire 13.1 without having to stop & walk and to not kill/poo myself in the process.

I am proud to say that I somehow pulled it off... and it wasn't that bad! I mean, I would actually do it again!

(AND I'm even prouder to admit that was able to nurse a baby after crossing the finish line. Ha!)