Mary, Jim, Katrina and I spent 20 weeks training like crazy with weekday runs and a l-o-n-g run every weekend. I'd crawl out of bed at the crack of dawn to make sure I got my runs in while Dan continued to snooze. I wasn't sure if I could finish the 26.2 miles but if I didn't make it, it certainly wasn't going to be because I didn't follow the training program. Dan finally decided to start "training" during the last 3 weeks before the race just as Katrina and I started to taper our training.
I'm not sure if Dan knows something about training that we don't or if he's just LUCKY!! Dan hardly trained (as usual) but managed to have his best half marathon time so far. In the last year he has cut 26 minutes off his time (that's 2 minutes per mile faster!!). His improvement this time probably has something to do with the fact that he's lost 40 pounds in the last couple of months.
Here's the crew just before the start of the race. Yes, it was still dark outside and brrrr cold!
Katrina and I did it!!! Let me just say that 26.2 miles is a LONG WAY!! Katrina is tough---her feet started killing her at around mile 15 but she kept going. I'm not sure that I would have been able to run more than 10 miles in pain like that. We aren't fast, that's for sure, but we are determined. Katrina is not interested in doing another marathon right now. :) She says that enough time will have to go by for her to forget how miserable it was before she'll agree to do it again. I'm already considering the National Marathon in DC on March 21, 2009 and trying to talk Dan into being my running partner for this one. Training starts in a couple of weeks.
Mary and Jim didn't have such a great day. Mary wasn't feeling well before the race and as you can see in the pictures below she wasn't feeling too great afterwards either. Nobody could find Mary after the race and of course no one thought of checking in the medical tent for her. Mary is a tough competitor -- she wasn't going to let a little hypothermia or body temperature dropping to 96 degrees stop her. Somehow she managed to complete the race but after spending 2 hours in the medical tent warming up, she was still unable to stop the trembling. They decided the best thing would be for her to take a trip to the hospital. I felt like a jerk at the time taking these pictures but knew Mary was going to be alright and that I'd regret not capturing this moment. Mary was released from the hospital that same night but took a couple of days to get her strength back. Now we're trying to talk her into running a 10K with us on Thanksgiving in Detroit!!
So much for the post-race celebration we had planned!! :)
Here is Jim in the front seat of the ambulance getting ready to go on his ride-along. 
Aidan and Liam play checkers while their cousin Grace looks at her towel :-)
