ever since matt and i ran the half marathon in madison wisconsin in august 2011, we talked about doing the half in champaign in 2012. it was the last weekend of april, so it worked out perfectly! it was my weekend with the girls, and it was shortly after tax season, so we made it into a little weekend getaway for the family! even though we hit a few bumps along the way and it didn't turn out quite as i had planned, we still managed to have a pretty darn good time!
friday night i had planned on getting there around 6, grabbing some dinner and spending some time at the expo and checking out the rec center....where i used to work when i went to school there! it had been completely renovated since i graduated 8 years ago, so i was super excited to see how it looked! i had seen some of the preliminary drawings while i worked there, as it was in the planning stages at that time, but nothing compares to seeing it for real! it sure was a sight! waaaaay better facility than when i was there! anywho.....we got a late start since nick spent the entire day fixing a water line break at his nonie's. no biggie! we still made it in time to get our packets and grab a few freebies!!
and take this pic of the coolest runners ever!! :)
so by the time we got to our hotel room, it was after 9! and we still hadn't eaten dinner! matt's friend rick was also staying with us, so he brought pizza for us all! then it was time for bed! especially since us adult runners had to be ready by 5:45! since i was only running the 10k and not the half marathon, i didn't have to start until 7:45, but i went with matt and rick anyway, cuz it's not like i could have slept!
why didn't i run the half?? well, for various reasons (tax season, lack of discipline, etc) i don't have the best training regimen. when i found out i was prego, i was only at like the 4-5 mile week of my "training" with 6 weeks to go, which was when i was gonna kick it into high gear! (hey, it worked for the madison half, and it woulda worked this time too! lol!) well, needless to say, between the nausea and constant tiredness, i wasn't able to train like i had planned. plus, since it was still so early in the pregnancy (i wouldn't be 12 weeks until after the run), i decided it would be best if i didn't push myself too hard. so i kept running my 3-5 miles to keep up, throwing a 6 miler in there, just so i knew i could make it, and it all worked out well! my goal was to finish in an hour.....my official time was 1:00:25!! yahoo!! matt still finished his half before me, but i expected that! i was just happy to finish, and to run the whole race, which i did! and it was so amazing having nick and the girls there at the end!! haylie even held up a sign that she made for me at school!! i love my little support group!!
it was much colder than i had anticipated, so we didn't stick around memorial stadium and enjoy the after race festivities like i had planned! instead we went back to the hotel room to shower and let the girls take a quick swim before their big race!
here are the girls, all readyto RUN!!!
since there was a storm rolling in, they decided to start the kids race a half an hour early. this wouldn't have been a big deal, except that we were almost late! lol! luckily they started with the oldest group of kids and worked their way down so we were there in plenty of time.
grandma & papa made the trip down just to see the girls run their very first race!! what wonderful grandparents!!
one of my favorite pics!!
after the race!
if you look closely you can tell charlie didn't have the wonderful time she anticipated! haylie was super excited, but i think charlie just got a little overwhelmed with all the runners! and there were a lot! we stayed with them the entire time, but once she got upset, there was no turning back! she cried most of the race! but she finished and got her medal!! and she did say after that she had fun! so who knows!? lol! so proud of my girls for their first race!
haylie and papa looking over the loft in our hotel room!
and grama and charlie!
the girls proudly showing off their medals!! and their u of i tshirts!! go illini!!
to continue w/unexpected plans.....after the race, when grama and papa headed home, we decided we'd go swimming for a while and then grab some dinner. well......the pool was closed until noon the next day! :( so no pool for us!! we decided to do a little shopping instead! not exactly what the girls were hoping for, but it was our only option! and it turned out to be a lot of fun! the girls rode the carousel a few times, got to pick out some new clothes, and we had a good dinner and some delicious ice cream!
so the next day we had planned to walk around campus a bit, so i could show the girls where i went to college. so of course it started raining the minute we left our hotel room! we drove around campus a little bit and i showed the girls what i could, and admired all of the wonderful changes that have taken place over the past 8 years! the girls even agreed to take a quick walk and a couple pics! they chose to see the undergrad library!
here are the girls by the undergrad
and the morrow plots!
like i said before, not much turned out the way i had originally hoped for, but i wouldn't change a thing! we still got to run, hang out with matt and my parents, do some shopping, check out campus, and had a really really good little getaway!!
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