I'm a 0.5 Marathoner...

Well, by grace, we completed the 15 miler. That was my first time going past the 12 mile mark, since I dropped out on our 14 miler a few weeks back. We are both sore and were walking like Frakenstein yesterday as we climbed steps, but with rest and some cold compresses we will be fine.

First off, I am just thankful to have dear friends. My friend came over to babysit the kids while we went out. She rang our doorbell at 5:30 AM. Yes, AM. She slept at our place until the boys woke up. So for that I am grateful to the max.

We did a few things different this time. We drank gatorade and water ALOT. The goal was to finish 20 oz. of fluids every 6 miles. We also had Clif Bars and Sports Beans on us to eat. We ate even when we didn't feel like it. With the goal of something every 45 minutes. That helped me out a whole lot. I didn't feel weak and primarily ran and walked as my intervals prescribed.

By the first two laps we were on pace, and I was really excited about that.

But what was also cool, were the other people at the park who were some high mileage like us. Everyone was so encouraging. If that is a glimpse of Chicago, then we are in for a pleasant surprise.

For the first 12 miles our time was 2:41 13.25 min/mile pace.

But then the last 3 miles came, and those were not pretty. We slowed down a lot. I guess we were knocking on the wall.

But we finished in 3:30:18. That's a long time to be running/walking.
The overall pace was 14:01 min/mile.

The weather was perfect and overall the mission was accomplished.