January 17, 2010 - PF Chang's Rock n' Roll Half Marathon

Hello!  Here is my feeble attempt at keeping up with my blog.  Not too long after our Holland adventures, I completed my 2nd half marathon here in Phoenix.  I walked the PF Chang's half marathon with Team UOPX.  My work, University of Phoenix, joined the Get Fit challenge and paid for our entry into the race.  How can you pass up a free race entry, right?  Let me remind you that I didn't train for this race as consistently as I did for Seattle.  The cool thing is that my feet are fixed (Thanks Dr. Carson Robertson and his staff at Alpha Chiropractic), so it should be a different experience.  I had done a few 5K's and some walking on my own in addition to my weekly visits to Joan, my personal trainer at the YMCA but no weekly walks on the canal.

We hopped on the light rail during our lunch hour (we have a stop right in front of our building) and headed to the Expo in downtown Phoenix.  We got our race bibs, shirts, and went shopping for souvenirs.  We walked around and got our free stuff.  Here are some pics from our lunch time adventure:

My favorite inspirational runner...John Bingham, the Penguin.

Angie and Sione Fa from the Biggest Loser.  She's a fan of the show and was excited to meet him!

Angie and I went to the Pasta Dinner that UOPX had for all the participants the night before.  My favorite speaker that night was Rob Wiley.  He's training to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials and was a great motivational speaker!  We headed home to get some rest before race day!

So, race day came and we were off.  My race buddies, Angie and Gen, met up and carpooled to a light rail park and ride and took the light rail to the finish line. See, I read the fine print that stated that the closest light rail stop to the Start line was a mile away.  No thanks!  We wanted to save the feet for the important 13.1 of the day.  So, we caught the shuttle at the end that took us to the Start of the race.

Here we are.....in our hi-liter yellow shirts.  Yes, this was the team shirt that we were given by UOPX to wear on race day.  I believe that at one point while we were waiting to start that Gen told me that looking at my shirt made her eyes hurt.  We had a good laugh when we picked them up on the Thursday before the race.  I called it the "remember me because I am important information" shirt.  That is why you hi-lite stuff, right?  Anyway....we don't have to worry about anyone not being able to see us, right?

We hung out....visited the lovely port-a-potties a few times and the headed to our Corral.

I was in Corral 25 of 27 I think.  Here is our view while waiting to start:

The girls were ahead of me but came back and started with me so we could start together.  It's a good thing because they would have never experienced the time of their life at the back of the line!  By the time we got to the start of the race, this is what we saw behind us:

We were laughing so hard at the idea of the tearing down of the start area before we even started.  I was determined not to be the last person to finish this race...even if I was one of the last to start!

  Almost to the Start Line!!

 Mayor Phil Gordon and Senator John McCain helped to start the race.  They stayed until the very last corral (us) had started!John Bingham starts all the Rock n' Roll Events.  He's an awesome motivational speaker and speaks at all the Team in Training Inspiration dinners.  I heard him speak in Seattle and he's just amazing!

This was a random running coach cheering on all the participants.  It made me miss being a member of Team in Training because no matter where you were, anyone who knew why you were wearing purple would yell, "Go TEAM" and you could get a little further down the road.

So, here is a slide show of my pictures I took on the course.  I love my little camera and wish that I would have had it in Seattle.  Oh well....enjoy 13.1 miles from my perspective.  

Yipee!  I finished another one!  I never thought I would enjoy these types of events but it's so much fun and if I can do it, anyone can!  I could definitely feel the difference in how it feels to complete a half marathon with consistent training verses without and I believe that the first thing I said to Hope when I saw her is, "I will never do this again without training properly!"  Here are some pics that Ed took:

Hmmmm, you can't find me, can you?  Too bad I am not wearing a bright color.  Oh wait, I am!!

There you have it.....my second half marathon but the first time I have completed one here in Phoenix.  I was really missing Seattle's course while walking this one.  The half marathon here is a pretty ugly route.  That was my only complaint!  

We caught the light rail back to the van and we headed home.  Our lunch plans with Aunt Betty and Uncle Richard didn't work, which was probably for the best since I could smell myself at this point.  I ate my Subway for lunch and took a nap.  I was hurting pretty bad for the rest of the day and once I headed upstairs, I never came back down.  I moved around between my bedroom and my computer room, but I never went back down.  Since we are a family of technology, a little bell was not needed to alert Ed that I needed anything from downstairs.  I simply instant messaged him or just yelled down the stairs.  It was pretty comical.  I am not sure he felt that way and was missing Seattle since we were in a hotel room where I just shuffled to the bathroom and everything was within my reach.  Thanks for being my post race servant, Ed!

What was pretty cool is that the only painful part of this adventure was right after the race.  Of course, I was sore for a few days, but I didn't have trouble walking like I did in Seattle.  All the torturing of the feet has paid off!!  

Will I do another one you ask?  Stay tuned.......