Mini Highlights
This past weekend I ran my fifth Mini Marathon. Here’s what made it awesome:
Although it wasn’t my best time ever, it wasn’t my worst either. In fact, I ran 4 minutes faster than last year. (Ok, 6 minutes slower than my best half marathon time ever, but I’m trying to be positive.)
Jeremy ran with me until the 12 mile marker. It was his first half marathon and that day he ran farther than he’d ever run in his entire life. What an amazing thing to be able to experience that with him.
Even though he was with me until the 12th mile, he beat me by more than 2 minutes! While it was all I could do to cross the finish line, he sprinted at the end!
As I was between the 1/2 and 1/4 mile mark at the very end, I heard the announcer at the finish line say, “And finishing with a strong kick, from Indianapolis, Indiana, Jeremy Algate who’s just 14 years old.” One of my proudest moments. I said to a guy who was running near me, “Hey! That’s my son!” He politely pretended like he cared and said, “Really? That’s cool!”
Matt finished without dying, passing out or getting injured in spite of the complete lack of training. He has this annoying genetic endurance thing that allows him to just pick up and run long distances without even trying. Very frustrating for someone who trained for 16 weeks to run the same distance.
The weather was unbelievably perfect. Sunny, but not oppressively hot. Comfortably cool when we were standing at the start line; warm enough to be comfortable at the end when we were waiting for Matt to finish.
Mollie picked up Kate and Nic and brought them to cheer us on somewhere around the 9 mile marker. It was such a huge encouragement knowing they were waiting for us when we came off the track. Amazing how much better you feel when you see the faces of people who love you, and hear them hollering, “You can do it! Keep going! You look great!”. Thanks, Mol! It meant more than you know.
So now that it’s over, I can go back to being undisciplined about my training and just running when I feel like it. At least for about 6 weeks until we start training for the half marathon in October.
