The 2nd Annual Joe Marathon

Today was The 2nd Annual Joe Marathon!  Just like last year, it was a success even though this year was slightly different because we did it as a relay.

Uncle Joe started running at 5:30am from his house.  Grandma, Grandpa, and some members of his family were up to see him off and follow him by car, but not many of the rest of us were even up yet.  Jessica joined in at mile 8.

Aunt Terry also joined by bike and after about 2 hours from the starting time, they arrived at the halfway point of the marathon course.  We stopped for a quick picture of course and then I set out on my way.

I was running from mile 13.1 to mile 20. I was the only runner during my leg, but after Uncle Joe took a few minutes to recover from his birthday morning half marathon, he caught up with me on bike so I would have someone with me.  I was also trying out mom's Garmin to see if I want to get one for myself. It was nice to have, but also felt like I was looking at it a lot. And as Uncle Rob said, it takes the fun out of doing calculations in your head while you're running. I'll keep trying it this week though.

I finished my 6.9 miles in 55:10 so right at 8 minute pace which I was happy with especially after yesterday's long run.  Since I had the Garmin, I can see my splits and they were: 8:01, 8:09, 8:01, 8:00, 7:59, 7:49, then 7:03 for the last .9.  I was glad the splits were relatively consistent/got slightly faster rather than slower.  This will be fun to use the Garmin and analyze my runs...I think I might over-analyze though.  I was wiped out when I finished my run.  It would probably make me run a lot faster on my normal runs to know I have 10 people anxiously awaiting my arrival and with water and Gatorade.

It was nice to have a little cheering section waiting for me approximately every mile and a half along my route.  They would find a little strip mall or parking lot to stop in, wait for me to run by, cheer, and offer water.  That was hard work too, especially so early in the morning.  But you can all sleep in tomorrow since you're on summer vacation!

Aunt Bernadette was part of the group waiting at mile 20 so that she could take over as runner. She was so excited to get going and set out to finish the last 10k. She had 3 bikers with her - Uncle Joe, cousin Joe, and Uncle Ron. They seemed to be having a good time and the Muellers showed up to cheer during these last couple miles too.

Aunt Bernadette successfully finished The Joe Marathon as our anchor leg! Everyone was proud of the accomplishments of the day and happy to be a part of it. We sang happy birthday to Uncle Joe again and all went inside to celebrate with bagels, donuts, fruit, etc.

Last Year's Inaugural "The Joe Marathon"

The Joe Marathon is possibly one of the greatest things ever created.

"Inspired by Shannon who asked, 'why do you pay for a marathon, why don't you just run in the streets?'"

Uncle Joe told us he was going to plan a marathon to run in the streets around Arlington Heights.  Until the week and the day before, we really had no idea how much planning he put into it.  And he didn't know how much we planned also, by creating special t-shirts for the occasion.  What good is a race without a t-shirt?

The race took place on 6/30/12 (Uncle Joe's birthday) at what was supposed to be 6:30am, but was moved up to 5:30am due to the heat.  He trained for the race in the months beforehand, and eventually mapped out his route of 26.2 miles starting and ending at their house.  The course passed by a lot of special locations, including the houses of most of our relatives in the area.  The night before the race, Uncle Joe drove around placing yellow signs like this one at every mile marker.

On race day, I think almost everyone from the Smith family participated somehow (except the R. Smiths who were in Hawaii, so that's a good enough excuse), whether it was by running or biking with Uncle Joe or just being outside to cheer, support, and hand out water.  Of course, Grandma and Grandpa brought donuts for anyone not running.  Catherine came out to participate too!  Another surprise to Uncle Joe besides the t-shirt was the police escort he got near the end of the race.  Since Grandpa volunteers at the police department, he has lots of connections.  Uncle Joe planned the course so that there weren't too many major streets to cross to avoid traffic.  But near the end, he had to cross a busy intersection and by that time it was a little later in the morning so traffic was a bit heavier.  Grandpa got his police buddies to STOP traffic in the intersection during this segment of the race!

This year's Joe Marathon is taking place on 6/30 again, but will be a little different.  Uncle Joe did not have time to train for a full marathon this year, and neither has anyone else.  So it's going to be run relay style.  Anyone who wanted to run decided how many miles they can do and since we already have the 26.2 mile course, why not use it to make a relay-style marathon?

Uncle Joe will run from the start to the halfway point, 13.1 miles, with the help of Jessica for the last few miles.  I'll run from the halfway point of The Joe to mile 20 to get in a 7 mile run on Sunday.  Aunt Bernadette will take over at mile 20 and run to the finish.  Maybe if I'm feeling good I'll keep running a little bit with her.  Many other family members have also offered to bike, take pictures, or provide support stations with water and cheering throughout the course.  It should be a fun event!