Sunday, October 16, 2011

Baltimore Half Marathon

When Anthony and I went to the Baltimore Health and Fitness Expo on Friday afternoon to pick up our race bibs we saw a great quote: "I run the half marathon because I'm only half crazy."

Looking back on our run Saturday I now agree that you have to have some bit of crazy somewhere in you to do a marathon.

But all in all, it was a great experience. There's something about running alongside thousands of other people all working towards the same goal that is inspiring. And although everyone runs together, it seems like each individual has their own reason for acting on their 'crazy' desire to participate. I did it for me - because I wanted to conquer a challenge that I never thought I could take on. Others did it for a cause - a friend with cancer, in memory of a loved one. Regardless of your reason for being there, we all had the same goal: own 13.1 miles.

Interestingly enough, even after living in Baltimore for 4 years, I had no idea the city has so many hills. Anthony and I had trained along the Hoboken/weehawken waterfront which is very flat, so the inclines got to be a bit tricky after a while. Luckily we 'ran' into a few friends from Loyola on the way (which was a good distraction) and before we knew it we had reached the last mile. Thanks to some awesome strangers standing on the sidelines cheering us on, we trucked through to the finish line with a time of two hours and 24 minutes, right around our set goal.

So for now, I'll be taking a nice break from training, but I think I've caught marathon fever and will be signing up for the Long Branch Half Marathon in May! Who's on board?

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