Here are some photos from the day of the mini marathon in fort collins. It went great and I finished with a time of 2:39.
Before the race. I had to get up at 4:30am to board the buses that took the runners to the starting point up the Poudre canyon. I had a hard time sleeping, but I think the excitement kept me from feeling tired. We got up to the start and had about 1 hour to wait. It was pretty cold, but not raining....so I was happy. I was wearing my Oregon fleece and met a woman who had flown in from Corvallis for the race.
Here I am around mile 13. I knew graham was going to be somewhere close to the end so I was excited to see him and it gave me a boost to the end. At certain points in the race someone had written out jokes and taped them on cones like the orange ones in the picture...which was kinda fun. It was always nice to come to an aid station (about every 2 miles or so) because there would be people cheering for us and water/sports drink. There's nothing like people cheering for you to give you a boost for the next few miles!
Here I am just after crossing the finish. As we crossed the finish line an announcer would say each person's name and where they were from...it was kinda cool to hear your name over the speakers. Volunteers cut off the shoe clip that was keeping our times right as we crossed the line then there was cookies, fruit, and water set out for all the runners. It was a great feeling to finish and I felt proud and strong. Thanks for everyone who was so encouraging throughout my training and sending me good wishes this day...it helped!
