San Antonio Rock 'N Roll 1/2 Marathon!

It's RACE DAY!! We woke up at about 4:30AM to leave our hotel by 5:00. Mandy and Kendra drove all of us runners to the drop off point for the start line. We had to walk about a mile to the starting line. They gave all of the racers bags that we could put our things in and then they delievered it to the finish line for us. We found a spot and ate bagels, bananas, drank water, and ate GU energy gel and cubes.

It was pitch black when we got to the drop off point. Here is our group photo before the race.

Back Row: Troy, Jim, Chris

Front Row: Cooper, Monte, Allison, Natalie, Hailey, and Me

Most of us half marathoners started in the same corral so we could all hang out together before the race. Here we are as we are waiting to get up to the starting line.


This is a view of what it was like with 30,000 of our fellow runners!

Getting pumped up for the start!!

The starting line is in sight (with the balloons and banners). We probably lined up about 1/2-1 mile away from the start.

Finally made it to the start line. They had each corral go off at about 1-1.5 minute intervals. We took off at about 45 minutes after they started the waves at 7:30. The announcer was saying some pretty funny stuff like we were Blazing Turtles, and Are we sure we want to do this? We can still back out! :)

Here is the first band that was right after the bridge at the start line. A mariachi band with dancers. Cool!

Here is a view of the race. It was still pretty full of people the entire time! We had walkers and runners throughout the race so that was kind of annoying to run arould all of the walkers, but it was cool to see all of the people.

Here's the view of the Alamo! It was about 2.2 miles into the course.

Running by the Alamo!! Probably one of the coolest parts of the race for me! It was neat to see it the night before and then run by it the next day.

Another band along the way. Most of them were rock bands.

A high school that we passed by. Their band was on the steps but only their drums were playing when I went by.

The high school sign that said "Godspeed Runners. Only 23.2 Miles to Go!". I was glad that I wasn't running the full marathon at that point! :)

Another view of the race and people.

Here I am at the half way point. I was feeling pretty good at the time! I was thinking that I could actually run the entire time. And for those of you that were wondering... I kept my camera in my sports bra pretty much the entire time and took pictures of myself and the scenery the entire time! :) I'm so cool!

This is my sad face :( after I found out that there wasn't any GU at the 8 mile marker. I thought that the course map said that we would get GU at the 8 mile marker and I thought I had missed it and they had already run out so I was sad.

Some lady saw that I was taking pictures of myself and asked if I wanted her to take a picture for me. (i wonder if i looked like a big dork! oh well!:)) I said that would be AWESOME, so here's her photo that she took of me at about the 10 mile marker.

This is the Tower of the Americas along the course. We passed this at around 11.5 miles.

This was the greatest site that I saw all day! This was the Alamodome and I knew that the Finish Line was almost here! My legs started to cramp up around the 10 mile marker and I started walking. I had never had my legs cramp before and it wasn't very fun. I tried to run a little bit after that, but I pretty much walked the last 3 miles.

This was suppose to be funny pic, but I think I look pretty nasty! I was pooped at this point and just wanted to document how I felt. EXHAUSTED! This was about 12.5 miles complete.

Here is my favorite mile marker sign because it was the last one that I saw!!! :) The end was pretty tough because they had a hill at the very end before the finish line, but it was cool to see all of the people here cheering us on. I'll also never forget that most of us 1/2 marathoners were walking to the finish like while the marathoners were still running!!! I was SOOOO impressed and had a lot of respect for them!!!!!

THE FINISH LINE!!! I did jog in to the finish line, but stoped to take a picture before I ran in.

This is the runner's area afterwards. They gave us food to refuel and we got our free MGD beer!

Here is the after marathon photo! It is AWESOME that we all FINISHED!!! It took me about 3 hours and 20 minutes. I was a little disappointed since I wanted to finish under 3 hours, but that can be my goal for the next time!

You can check out the official San Antonio Rock N' Roll marathon website. You can watch me cross the finish line by clicking on the Finish Line Replay and typing in my name (if i knew this, I probably would have done something really cool!) and look at the photos that they took of me along the way by clicking on the ASI Photo link on the side.

:):):)YEAH!! I completed my first 1/2 marathon!! I can't believe I did it! :):):)