Jason and Kristy: Baltimore Running Festival

This past weekend, I completed my first half marathon (13.1 miles) in Baltimore. After, 2 and a half months of training and 300 miles later, it’s finally done, which was definitely exciting. It is difficult to tell from the pictures the magnitude of this event but there were 30,000 runners in the festival. I finished in 2 hours and 8 minutes. This was probably the most difficult but inspiring thing that I have ever done. The streets are lined with people cheering for you and holding up signs. One of my favorites was a little kid with a sign that said "Worst Parade Ever!" Many people also have charity teams that run. It was amazing to see the support that was out there after months of training.
Some people in the race did the marathon in wheelchairs, and there was also a brain cancer patient undergoing chemo who ran the marathon with his surgeon from Johns Hopkins. Several fathers also ran pushing their child in a wheelchair for the full marathon. When you get to mile 10, 11, 12 and think you can’t go any farther, those are the things that really push you and put things into perspective. It really makes you realize how many things are out there that are so much bigger and more difficult.
On a lighter note, it’s also demoralizing to watch a guy in a pickle costume running in a tube with no arms, just little feet moving under the pickle, pass you. Also frustrating to see a guy run and JUGGLE for 26.2 miles while you’re just trying to get your feet through the first 13. Regardless, I had a wonderful time and I now have the bug…on to the DC Hot Chocolate Run in Dec. and the Rock N’ Roll marathon in March…Jason’s running this time!

Marathon photos for the finish line and during the race are at the link below. You have to enter my last name and also scroll down to Baltimore marathon 2011 for the event.
http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?action=site.login