Koski Family Blog: Helvetia Half Marathon

On Kaisley's first birthday I ran my first Half Marathon with Aunt Jenny and Kiley's cousins Paula and Shawna. I had started to train for the race in April but did not run for three weeks prior to this day because I was sick. My goal was to keep Aunt Jenny and Paula in sight. I knew that Shawna would be impossible to catch :0) When Aunt Jenny and I got there we looked at the booths who gave free clif bars, power shots, and gel bars for energy. There were 5,000 people running the 10k and half marathon. When the race started I had ear warmers, three layers of shirts, gloves, and two layers of pants. Before I got to the first mile I had the ear warmers, gloves, and thick longsleve off. I regret wearing two layers on my legs because they were so tight that took a lot of effort to move them. I was surprised that my lungs weren't tired but my legs were. It was a beautiful run and the weather was great. They had people holding water and heed (an electrolyte drink) at every mile and clif power gel shots after mile 6. The farthest I had ran while training was 9 miles and at mile 10 I hit a wall. It was very hard not to just walk especially because my legs were hurting. Aunt Jenny and I finished together at 2 hours 34 minutes. I was pleased with this time for my first race and was proud of how far I had come from a year ago on that same day. I have lost 50lbs from my pregnancy weight and 20lbs down from my pre-pregnancy weight. Kaisley has inspired me to be the best role model that I can for her. This includes having a healthy and active lifestyle. Afterwards we had Helvetia burgers. I chose to have a garden burger and it was really good. Here are a few photos from the race: