Locomotive Half Marathon in Kennesaw 2-17-2013

 Me and Tay about to embark on our first half marathon together.

• 10 mile run the weekend  before- check.
• Carbed up all week on bagels and bread and pasta- check.
• Cold weather running gear purchased and accounted for-check.
• Numbers retrieved and free pasta buffet consumed- check.
• Went to bed early the night before- check.
• Woke up early to a breakfast of coffee, bagel (me), HN Cheerios (Tay)- check.

So off we go, and WOW! Was it cold!  22 degrees cold.  The dj dude at the race said it felt like 15 degrees.  The tips of our toes and the tips of our fingers were throbbing from the cold within a few minutes of getting out of the cold.  We walked briskly to warm up.  Then we had to pee one last time.. and all of the body heat accumulated in our layers escaped!

But no time to complain!  Head to the start, they say!  And we did, and within seconds of the gun starting the race, we were off for 13.1 miles around Kennesaw.

As promised, I began the race with this awesome selection:

I can say, now, that this song has never had any staying power on my playlists.  Sad, right?  (callie, I know you are shaking your head!  :)  BUT!  I will say I am converted.  I could actually HEAR the song I played at the start this time.. many other races I did had very loud DJs at the start, etc. and I could never hear that first song.  But timing was awesome... as I pressed play, Eye of the Tiger started, and the gun sounded the beginning of the race!  In fact, it was hilarious... the dude running a few yards in front of me was fist pumping like he was listening to the same song!

At mile 1, the mile markers were set up side by side.

Mile 1/Mile 11

I wondered if we could choose, like in Pedro, which one the "Ace" would be. :)

The streets were very quiet, no real interesting outfits or shirts or roadkill or things to report. :)

I did get to see the building for this place, which I did not know existed until Sunday:  Cryolife

And wow.. look at their locations.. Kennesaw and the United Kingdom.

The building is GINORMOUS.. and we passed it twice.. Todd said there are probably people cryogenically frozen in there, waiting to be awakened and cured...
The whole thought of what went on behind those huge glass walls kept my brain occupied for a few miles, at least.

Somewhere around mile 6 or 7, we headed down a road that led to the Vulcan facilities in K-Saw.  The huge massive amounts of rock kept my mind busy for awhile.  And THEN.. there was the chiropractor set up down this same dusty road in the middle of seemingly nowhere, with a table and all, with a sign that said 'Active Adjustment".. something like that.  I am thinking, "Who is going to stop?"  but then on our way back up the street (from the U turn a mile down) I realized that there was a porta potty set up nearby!  Anyone the stopped to use the bathroom might get an adjustment from this person!  HA!  If I would have stopped and laid on that table, I don't know if I would have gotten back up!  

And on we went...

Somewhere around mile 8, I think, this song played, and I realized how happy I was that I left it on my playlist.

As I looked over at my almost 18 year old running her first marathon, I couldn't have been happier all of the miles that we trekked in almost perfect cadence.  Our only words were me asking if she was good and her giving me the thumbs up... no talking necessary.. footfalls together were our only language.

(geez that's cheezy.. sorry.. true though!)

So we ran through the finish line and got our medals.. and wth.. all of the vendors were out of food!  I was looking forward to WHATEVER anyone had to offer.. this was my only gripe about the race.. there honestly was no one there with food.  Sweet Tomatoes had left some multigrain chips, which I ate two bags of.  Muscle Milk was there giving out samples.. (bleck.. too sweet.. give me some good ol 2% milk, please)... the best thing about there not being anyone else WAS Frannie's Gluten Free Muffins.  I swear I ate 2 packs back to back of these yummy delicacies!  Lemon Zest and Zucchini.... thank you, ladies, for an awesome post race meal AND for sticking it out till the end!

(My theory is that the 5Kers ate all of the food!)

Here we are at the finish!

Awesome experience all in all for our first half together!  Yes we rested and ate our butts off that day!  Yes we were very thankful for having the day off Monday!  and YES!  I am looking forward to our next!