THE BIX7. . .

In 2005, I ran the Chicago Marathon. I spent most of the year running and four months prior to the race, I started following a strict training program. During that time, I bought a subscription to Runner's World and read everything I could about the sport. I first learned of the BIX7 from that magazine. I had already run seven miles, but the course sounded incredibly difficult and I wasn't sure I was up for the challenge. For some reason, during that time, I added the BIX7 to my mental bucket list. Until this year, it just hasn't worked out for me to run the race. We were new to the Quad Cities last year and I was in no shape to be running seven miles. So this year rolled around and I just felt like the timing was right. I signed up and started training in June. I had already been running, but I started increasing my miles. For four weeks prior to the race, on Thursday evenings, the course was opened up for runners to practice. My friend Courtney and I went to the first one and I was so nervous! My goal was just to be able to run half the course. Courtney wanted to run the whole thing. I had no intention of doing the whole course that night, but I did! I ran almost half of it and then painfully finished the remaining miles. After that, I kicked my training up a notch so as to be able to run the whole race! On the final training run, I was able to run the whole course, so I knew I'd be able to do it on race day.
Well, race day arrived July 27th and Courtney and I drove down to the course. We wished each other luck and then entered the gates at the starting line. I had no idea so many people would be running that day!! Even though there were hundreds of people at the training runs, there were relatively few compared to how many showed up to run the BIX7! Below is the starting line!!!
Just before the gun went off, a man sang the National Anthem. As he was nearing the end of the song, I heard a loud, collective gasp from the runners. I looked up in the sky to see three jets flying toward us! They flew directly over Brady Street and on past the Mississippi River! The roar of the planes brought chills to my arms and tears to my eyes. It was so emotional! (You can see the River in the background.)

 That's me out front, on the left. (Kidding. . . I was probably a half mile back from the start line!)

The most famous hill on the course is the Brady Street hill. Basically, we ran about a hundred yards and then started climbing the hill! It was painful during all the training runs, so I expected it to be awful on race day. However, because of the adrenaline and the sheer volume of people, I felt as if I was being pushed up the hill. I couldn't slow down. I couldn't really speed up. We just worked our way up the hill and before I knew it, I was at the top! It was actually amazingly fun!

Below is the course, just to give you an idea of the terrain. It starts on the left and is an out-and-back course.

Kevin has always been a huge supporter of my running. He is awesome at finding me during the races and his cheering always motivates me to keep pushing ahead. These are some of the pictures he took during the race. These were taken around the 3-mile marker. The first one shows how empty the street was before it was flooded with runners.

The race started at 8am, so Kevin got the girls up early and drove down to cheer me on! I was SO happy to see them on the course. I had no idea where he'd be, and with so many thousands of runners, I was shocked that he found me! He's amazing!

Amazingly, Kevin saw me when I was on the opposite side of the street! He yelled loudly enough that I heard him through all the people. I hit the halfway point and turned around, knowing I'd get to see him and the girls on my way back! Definitely great motivation and encouragement!

I was getting in position to give Emma a high 5!!

I felt so strong the entire race! I tried to keep up with my friend and did for the first three miles. Then I fell into my own pace and just kept going for the remaining four miles! I didn't really have a goal time other than beating my fastest training run. My final time was 61:22, and I was ecstatic!! The first time I ran the course, I ran 79:14, so after all the training, I was able to take off 18 minutes! My average pace for the race was 8:42/mile!! Needless to say, I was just happy!!

When I got home, Emma and I posed for race pictures! I was so proud of her for running her race the night before and she was so proud of her mama for running the BIX7!!

Another item on the bucket list checked off!!