seven and eight

On July 21st I ran the Chicago Rock N Roll Half Marathon. It was, um, what's worse than miserable? Totally fucking miserable? Is that worse? That's what it was. People were dropping left and right from the heat. Starting around mile 7, every quarter of a mile there was an ambulance picking up people and whisking them to the hospital. It was bad. I got scared and decided to start run/walk intervals because I wanted to remain upright. Because of those intervals my time was not good. I came out of that race feeling like I never wanted to run again. Sitting is pretty cool, maybe I'll train for some sort of competitive sitting competition.

I can 100% guarantee that I saw the photographer and started running as I approached him and resumed my death march after I passed him. 

I was just so happy to be done. I'm always able to rally for post race booze.

Of course I couldn't just stop running, I had five more months of races to do. Oh, and full marathon training was starting 7 days later. No time for sitting, it was time to get even more serious about running. 

Two weeks later, this past Sunday, I was back at another start line for my August race, this time in a much cooler San Francisco. 55 degrees, foggy, breezy, misty, ideal. I ran and ran and ran. I felt strong. I hit mile 12 and I was actually still smiling. Holy shit, was I enjoying running again? I was!

This half was The Giant Race and we crossed the finish line on the field at AT&T Park where the Giants play ball. I've been to AT&T Park numerous times for ballgames but I've never been on the field before. Y'all, I loved it. 

We were allowed into the dugout, so I had to make an a call on the dugout phone before they are all replaced by cells. I was apparently making an angry phone call to the bullpen because my pitcher was really pissing me off. I like how the guy sitting there finds the situation amusing.

Of course, it's not a baseball game unless someone tries to steal third.

Do you see the long sleeves and gloves? LONG SLEEVES AND GLOVES! San Francisco, you are magical. 

I believe my favorite picture from the whole thing is this one of me "sliding" into home. I'm so ready for the big leagues. Maybe Erica and I should skip the Super Social softball league next season and move right on up to Minor League play. 

Total pro right there.

Thank goodness for a good August race. I feel excited about running again. I look at my training plan and don't want to gouge my eyes out when I see my weekend mileage. Thank you Giant Race! You were a pretty awesome 8th half marathon.

Yay me indeed.