Mercedes Half Marathon - February 14, 2010

Bob and I ran in the Mercedes-Benz Half Marathon on Sunday, February 14th. This race is Birmingham's biggest race, with 10,000 runners each year. It was 13.1 miles through downtown Birmingham, and it's urban neighborhoods. The weather was perfect for a long run too - sunny, and highs never reaching above 40.

Bob and I totally winged this race, with "training" runs never maxing out over 5 miles. We both have had previous injuries that held us back from properly training. We opted to run for 4 minutes, and walk 1 minute. With that method, we were able to comfortably run without feeling too much fatigue. We did that until about mile 10, and then we chose to run the remaining 3.1 miles. As for me, my IT Band issues did not creep up on me until mile 7. I was actually thankful for that. I went into the race thinking that I'd start to feel pain by mile 4. Anyhow, miles 7-9 were extremely painful, but I kept at it. I stopped and stretched a couple of times, as my right leg felt like a block of concrete - tight! After mile 9, the pain went numb. Again, I was thankful for that too. I kept at it, again, with stopping to stretch one more time. The last 1/2 mile was tough for me. At that point, the pain had returned, and the fatigue had finally set-in. I was so thankful to have my husband there to cheer me on. Without him, I'm not sure if I would have finished it!

We proudly finished with a time of -

2:13!!!

We really thought our time would be closer to 2:30, but I suppose with the race atmosphere and the adrenaline that ensues, we finished sooner. Our average pace was a 10:04 mile. Unfortunately, Bob's parents (they kept Bobby) missed us crossing the finish line, because we finished earlier. Better luck next year!

Onto the pictures, taken by Bob's dad...

Our motto, "Couples who run together, stay together."

Family pic, post-race.

Boutwell Auditorium hosted the after-race party.

Bobby and I, with Amy and Drew. They were there to cheer Bart on, as he also ran the half.

Mike, me, and Bob - three peas in a pod.

Drew and his daddy, Bart. Amy made Drew a onesie with his daddy's race bib number on it. It said "Team Wilder" on the back, and "Go Daddy" on the front. Too cute!!!