Cowtown Half Marathon!

A few weeks after we found out we were pregnant, Landon and I threw around the idea of signing up for a half marathon somewhere around the 2nd trimester, to give me something to keep training for.  At the time, it sounded kinda awful, because I was still not feeling good, but I wanted a reason to keep getting outside and running, so we began looking for races around February/March (which seemed SO far off at the time!).  And then, we remembered that my dad does the Cowtown half marathon every year in Fort Worth, so we decided to join in the fun.  And, when I told my sister in law what we were doing, she signed up to do it too, and then my mom did as well and then so did Raleigh and Kaleena, 2 of our friends from church.  So, pretty quickly, it turned in to a party!

And then, almost before we knew it, race weekend was here.  Landon and I headed up on Friday night right after he got off work, because, as luck would have it, Morgan and Blake's baby shower was on the Saturday afternoon before the race.  Perfect timing!  I was so glad that we were able to be there for it.

Then, after the shower, Landon picked me up and we headed over to the Expo to meet up with Raleigh and my parents.  We got all checked in, browsed the expo and bought a few goodies and then headed over to meet Logan and Elizabeth at the Olive Garden for some carb loading before heading home to get some good sleep. :)

Because the race started at 7am, we made a plan to meet up with everyone around 630am, before heading to our respective corrals, which kinda worked.  We didn't find Raleigh and Kaleena until literally 2-3 minutes before Elizabeth, my mom and I started the race, but I was so glad my mom spotted them!  Thank goodness we were all wearing our Team Mercy Project shirts and were a little easier to see!

Pretty much from the start of the race, everyone split and went their separate ways.  My dad and Landon started together in corral one, because they're super fast. :)  But, pretty much as soon as the gun went off, they split up and each just ran their race.  They both did awesome, especially considering that it was a little warm and it was a new (much hillier!) course this year.  And, Landon sort of had an experience this weekend like I had in San Antonio--kinda miserable. :)  He stepped off a curb and twisted his ankle in the first quarter mile, breakfast didn't sit well and the hills were rough--especially a long, steep one at mile nine.  But, he kept running and actually set a new PR--I'm so proud of you babe!  I probably would have quit after I twisted my ankle--or at least given us going for a PR.
Both my Dad and Landon came in well under 2 hours--my sometime after baby half marathon goal (which will definitely take A LOT of work for me, ha!).  I'm just a little jealous of them right now. :)
 About 20 minutes later my mom, Elizabeth, Raleigh, Kaleena and I started a few corrals back.  We jogged about the first quarter mile together and then Raleigh and Kaleena took off.  Then, after walking with us for a few minutes, Elizabeth took off too.  It was all of their first halves and they did awesome!  All three of them came in under 3 hours, which I was impressed by, because it was not an easy course--especially for us Houstonites with our flat ground!  Raleigh and Kaleena ran the whole thing together too, which was fun--it made me reminiscent of Landon and I's first half a few years ago.  Such a good memory.

 
 Just a few minutes after Raleigh and Kaleena came across the finish line, Elizabeth was coming up the shoot.  She ended up finishing in 2:59--love it!  It was a lot faster than she had planned on finishing, which is always a good feeling!  And, I know she says she'll never do another one, but I'm not buying it... :)

 

And then, about 20 minutes later, it was me and my mom's turn.  We power walked most of the race, with a few little jogging breaks scattered throughout.  I am so impressed with my mom.  The sum total of her training for this race was a 2 mile walk a few days before the race, and she got out there and walked 15 and a half minute miles for her first half marathon.  I know she was feeling it (because by the end I was too, and I had been walking a lot!), but she stuck it out and did awesome!  And, we only had to stop and take one bathroom break, which for us was pretty good, haha!  We had such a good time just walking and talking the whole time--the miles actually went by pretty fast!  Adrenaline is crazy thing--in my training walks at times my back started to hurt or I'd get some craps or just feel really uncomfortable from being pregnant, but during the race, nothing.  I almost forgot I was pregnant.  It was weird, but kinda nice that none of the things I was worried about happened!  And almost before I knew it, the race was almost over and we were coming up to the finish line.  As we came down the chute, we saw my dad first and then Logan and Abagael and Landon and then, we grabbed hands like we had planned and jogged across the finish line!
 

After the race, we managed to find everyone in our group and hung out an talked and shared race stories for a little while before heading out to get some good mexican food for lunch, which seems to have become our after race tradition as of late!

Abagael and I

Abagael's a pro at cheering people on at races now--she made the sweetest little sign for her mom and then drew one person for each person running with us that day!

My sweet parents--I never thought I'd see my mom do a half marathon! :)

Raleigh and Kaleena and their precious baby Fiona--Kaleena's mom came out and watched her during the race and said she loved all of the cheering and all of the people! :)

our whole group

our whole Mercy Project team :)

my favorite running partner!

We had to document Baby Speights' first half marathon. :)

And, speaking of running, while we were at lunch with everyone after the race, Landon surprised me with this stroller!  I was in shock--brand new they're around $400, so it was something we really wanted, but never really thought we'd actually buy, because that is A LOT of money.  But then, last week, Landon found one that looks BRAND NEW on Craigslist for...$50!!  I think that is definitely his best Craigslist find to date, which is saying a lot!!  I am so pumped--I love it!  I can't wait to have our little baby here and take him out for a jog!

Anyway, after lunch we all said our good byes and headed home, ready for some rest! Landon and I actually stopped back by Blake and Morgan's for a quick shower and to see their nursery all set up from the shower (it is SO cute!!) and then hit the road.

Thank you everyone that came out with us--it was an awesome weekend!  It was basically everything we could have hoped for--hopefully everyone else had as much fun as we did.

See you next year at Cowtown! :)
**photos courtesy of Logan Speights and Landon Speights, our race day photographers :)**