Welcome to my blog! A little about me… I’ve always been fairly athletic and loved playing sports (watching is a different story… unless it’s a track meet or some type of running event). Growing up I played every sport I could and eventually found track in middle school and immediately fell in love.

From middle school through college, anything over 400 meters seemed much too far to run, though I did run cross country in high school my first three years. I had a successful sprinting/hurdling career during that time achieving school records and qualifying for the State meet the NCAA DII national meet. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Health and Human Performance from Fort Hays State University in 2012 and no longer having a coach expecting me to show up for practice daily, I had to figure out what was next for myself.

I turned to distance running in the summer of 2012 mostly to keep health and fitness as a large part of my life as I worked towards my personal training certification. I didn't realize I'd become hooked to distance running while training for my first half marathon in spring of 2013! Since then, I have successfully completed multiple 5ks, over 20 half marathons, 4 full marathons, two Half Ironman triathlons and one Full Ironman triathlon. In these accomplishments I've also raced in 19 states and qualified for (and ran) the Boston Marathon.

Now that the Boston Marathon has passed, I plan to continue learning how to run as a new mom and build my fitness back to my previous abilities. I have a goal of running a half marathon in all 50 states, as well as running all six World Marathon Majors.

I’ll write up a short race recap of all my races over half marathon distance for you to follow along on my journey. They will also post chronologically right here on this blog. I plan to eventually post other tips and tricks, recipes, and the “whys” of distance running. I hope you enjoy!

Many people don't know that Kansas City is both in Kansas and Missouri. It's one city that spans across the state line. So even though this race was in Kansas City, it was completely in Missouri, making Missouri state number 6!

Zero-dark thirty on race morning with my mom and sister!

I headed to Kansas City by myself that weekend to visit my sister, Renee, who lives in Kansas City. My mom also drove from our home in Hays and we made a girls weekend out of this race (you'll notice this a few times! Also notice our numbers are all back to back!)

Race morning was cold, but it was a beautiful October day to run! We drove from my sister's apartment to downtown KC, MO and found parking in a structure. The city allowed for free parking all morning for the race!

The race starts a block from Crown Center Square, which was a great venue for the finish line party later on. The course immediately heads to the Power and Light District, before doing a 180 and passing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Just after passing the museum, there's a nasty climb from miles 3.5 to 5! I so wanted to walk but I kept myself going! No walking today! I do remember my pace slowing down, but all that climbing means you have to head back downhill at some point! From 5-7.5 it was all downhill through beautiful KC, MO neighborhoods.

Here is where the full and half marathon splits off. I remember starting to get my laps back under me again after all that climbing and seeing my pace pick back up. After a loop around the the Seville Light Fountain (which is died colors for different events and holidays!) we followed a beautiful path past Mill Creek Parkway. My pace kept dropping even though we started to climb again for these finishing miles. There might be a PR in sight!

Knowing I'm on PR pace late in the game always gives me another boost to keep pushing the pace hard. The race finishes back near the Crown Center, next to the National WWI Museum and Memorial. Luckily, the last quarter mile is back downhill meaning no matter how you feel you can pick up the pace a bit towards the finish!

The hills were rough in the beginning, but I did hit a new PR and finished with an overall time of 1:47:19 (8:12 avg). This was awesome considering my 5k pace was 8:44, and 10k pace was 8:21.

After I finished the race I got cleaned up and changed clothes and then went to cheer on my mom and sister as they both finished their half marathons too.

The post race party was a lot of fun! Everyone could have a pulled pork BBQ sandwich (KC BBQ is the bomb, guys!) There were also local bands and breweries. Had the weather been a little warmer, we probably would have stayed to enjoy the festivities a little longer.

The Kansas City Marathon is a great race! The volunteers, aid stations, course and venue were all top notch. The course may be a challenging one, but it was a great race for my 6th state!

To go back to the race report archives, click here.