My First Half Marathon Adventure

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. " - William Shakespeare 

TOGETHER WE WHEEL.  This past weekend we competed in the Georgia Publix Half Marathon and Cutie's 5k.  It was the true embodiment of what we set out to go as we all set out on under the darkness early Sunday morning.

KPF Athletes hitting the streets of Georgia

Pardon the order as we certainly have plenty of updates from our happy hour but Justin Knight or "JDude" just completed his first half marathon and we wanted to get his race report out! Stay tuned for Curtis next week and some updates from our 5k!

-KPeasey

MY FIRST HALF-MARATHON ADVENTURE

Happy Hour at The Family Dog was fun.  It took me a few minutes to get accustomed to the noise level, but once I settled myself I had a great time.  It was fun hanging out with Curtis, Kyle, Brent and everyone else that was there.  I was a little bit nervous about giving my first public speech but once I got the microphone in my hand and started to speak, the nerves went away.  It was neat to get to tell everyone what the Kyle Pease Foundation means to me and how I enjoy being a part of the group.

Just doing my first public speech.  NBD

The Publix Half was the second race that I have ever done.  The first one was the Holcomb Bridge Hustle 5K.  I didn’t really know what to expect other than knowing that I had to wake up at 4 a.m. to get ready to head downtown.  The whole week leading up to the race, all I could think about was getting up at 4 a.m. on race day! 

So, Saturday I crawled into bed early so I could get a good sleep.  I woke up at 2 a.m. because I was so excited, but went back to sleep pretty easy.  I was ready to rock at 4 a.m. on Sunday – even got up before my mom – which was no surprise!  LOL!

We got ready and headed downtown, found our parking spot and headed into Centennial Park to meet up with all the athletes.  I was still sleepy and trying to get awake as I rolled through the park. When we got to our meeting place, I spotted Liz, who would be my Pusher.  I was excited to get to meet her since we had already been talking on Facebook.  I got into the jogger, got strapped in good and tight and before I knew it we were headed to the start line.  There were people everywhere – I yelled out “COMING THROUGH!!”  as we made our way through the tons of people.  We ended up getting stuck in one of the corral areas, but someone moved one of the barricades so we could get through.  With about 3 minutes until the start, we were running up the sidewalk with a few other KP athletes.  We made it to the start line just in time!  The count-down began and everyone was cheering.  It was awesome when we took off running.  I was pumped up – it was so cool!

Me, Liz, and our bike escort had a great time as we ran through town.  It was real cool running by the Vortex, Freedom Park, and the Family Dog.  We had a crazy experience when some old man tried to pick a fight with us because he said we should have been on the other side of the street!  Everyone cheered us on and everyone loved my Newtons!!!

Coming through Va Highlands.  Liz is a rockstar and our escort was fantastic!! 

I was so glad to get to the FINISH LINE – I had to pee so bad!!!  My pusher Liz never let up. She was amazing! Raising my arm up in celebration, we crossed the finish line to victory!  It was a feeling that I won’t forget – finishing my first half-marathon and I have the medal to prove it!

Thanks Liz! Thanks Kyle! 

Many thanks to Kyle & Brent Pease and everyone with the KPeasey Foundation for making it all possible!  It feels so great to be a part of the KPeasey family of athletes!  I can’t wait to race again!! 18.3 miles and counting!!

Justin Knight