Rock The Parkway Half Marathon
If you know me, you know that I am a big advocate for movement and exercise through my profession and also in my personal life. Sometimes I need a little extra motivation to spice up my exercise regimen, so I periodically sign up for a half-marathons. After a little research, I found a half-marathon in Kansas City called “Rock the Parkway”. This gave us a good opportunity to hang out with my sister and her family as well. The race was to take place on the beautiful Ward Parkway in Kansas City. I always love driving down Ward Parkway, so I was happy to jump on the opportunity to run along the closed roads and an added bonus was that it was a fairly flat course.
Mile: 8,876
Quote of the Blog: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then craw, but do what ever you have to do to keep moving forward.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
Song of the Blog: “Run Like Hell” - Pink Floyd
Training for this half marathon was a bit more challenging than previous half-marathons. I typically do the Hal Higdon “Novice 2 program”, but his time I jumped up to an “Intermediate” program. The “Intermediate” program added more running days and less rest/cross-training days. I learned through this training cycle, that my body needs more weight-training and less frequent running days to maintain healthy and happy joints. I also ended up training while frequently sick. I don’t know what happened when we moved to the Midwest, but Billy and I have caught every illness that we came across this winter. None the less, I completed the training and was ready-ish for the big day!
We went to KC on Friday evening and arrived early enough to grab my running bib, then head to Briley’s track meet. This was the first time that we were able to see her run competitively. She was quite impressive in the mile and it was pretty funny to listen to her fan club (her family) cheering her on. Her mile pace is pretty close to my half-mile time. Billy and I headed to Red Door Grill for dinner, which was a perfect pre-race meal and then it was off to bed.
I woke up very early the following morning to be able to fuel properly and make our way to the race. Billy, my sister-Autumn, my niece-Finley and nephew-Baylor were all sweet enough to accompany me to the race. It was very motivating to see their smiling faces along the way. They popped up in 2 locations on the route, along with the start and finish. I am sure that it was not easy to navigate the closed streets and traffic, but I so appreciate them being there. The shirt that I wore was to honor and bring awareness to my sister who is currently running her own marathon in a breast cancer fight. Her strength is truly inspiring. She has always been my biggest cheerleader and race day was no exception, despite everything that she is battling. My goal time was 2 hours and thanks to a little encouragement from my support group, I finished in 2:00:37.2.
That evening Billy and I went out and about in KC. I had not been out in downtown KC in a very long time. Billy is a sucker for putt-putt, so we headed to Sinkers Lounge for some fun. They have traditional mini-golf, but they also had table-top mini golf. The table-top version was super fun, as it is kind of a mix between shuffleboard and golf. The different holes were themed after Kansas City monuments. After completing a round of each, we went to the Power and Light District. We decided to check out “Howl at the Moon”, for some dueling piano fun. It is safe to say that it was a very busy and fun-filled day.
Sunday morning was Easter. I went to church with Autumn’s family, while the “Easter Bunny” (Billy) hid easter eggs for the kids. The Easter egg hunt is quite competitive in the Early household and there are often tears. This year was no exception. Briley and Baylor found the Golden and Silver egg and Atticus was in tears before it was over. We enjoyed a very tasty brunch together and then Billy and I started our journey back to St. James.
We couldn’t just drive straight home without a stop in Columbia to see Asa and Kelsey. We went to the Ozark Mountain Biscuit Co. for Easter “Suppah Club”. It was a delicious family-styled meal with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and all of the biscuits you could ever want. Next, we hopped in the car and were in route to St. James with very full bellies and hearts after a fun-filled weekend.