Brussels Half Marathon (Oct 5)

On Sunday, October 5, I ran the ING Brussels Half Marathon. It was actually a Full and Half Marathon, but I hadn't trained enough for the Full Marathon. The weather was around 45 - 50 degrees Fahrenheit plus a little rainy and windy, but I forced myself to still compete in it. I noticed there were a lot more men than women running in the race. The Half Marathon started at 10:30 AM while the Marathon started a little earlier at 9:00 AM. Shannon had bought me some running gear at Nike when he was up in The Netherlands for a meeting with his client, who happens to be Nike; thus, he got a pretty good deal on my outfit. Anyway, the race started at Park Cinquantenaire and finished at the Grand Place. Shannon dropped me off and then headed to work for a few hours and came back just in time to see me finish. Overall it was a nice scenic route with a few hills, but very manageable, similar to the Lincoln Half Marathon which I have done several times. I finished in 1 hr 58 minutes, not my best time, but I'm blaming it on the weather! I couldn't really sprint to the finish line since the ground was covered with slippery cobblestones due to the constant rain.

Once I went through the finish line, there were several freebees being handed out. I think I grabbed one of each: water, juice, soy milk. They also handed out ponchos and samples of foot cream. After I found Shannon, we took a few pictures and then headed for my reward which was a Belgian Waffle. He said I deserved one for finishing the race, but I think he wanted one more than I did! Of course, I still devoured it!

The last leg of the race in the Grand Place (in blue)

Going through the finish line and picking up some drinks and other freebees
They handed out soy milk, juice, water, ponchos, foot cream and a medal for finishing the race

Shannon waited for me at the end

My reward for completing the race was a 'Belgian Waffle' (Shannon's idea probably because he wanted one for himself!)