I DID IT!

I did my first Half-Marathon!! I am so excited!

Saturday morning I woke up at 4:15am... much earlier than I needed to be up but I think I had a little case of nerves going on. After laying in bed for a while I got up, got myself ready, and then my friend picked me up to head down to the starting line where we were set to start at 7:15am.

The weather was cool and cloudy and basically perfect. The first mile breezed by and so did the second. I was so happy that at the halfway point I was still feeling pretty good. By mile 7 it started to rain - just a light sprinkling. It was actually pretty refreshing.

After mile 8 I called my husband to tell him he should get ready to head down there (he planned to meet me at the finish) since I would be done it about an hour.

By mile 9 my legs really started to hurt but, no matter, I pressed on. The rain continued but I barely even noticed it.

I could not have been happier to see the mile 12 marker, with my legs really hurting now but otherwise doing just fine. I started to see people lined up on the sides to cheer us on, all holding umbrellas and wearing warm, cozy clothes. For a brief moment I wished to be in comfy clothes and my Uggs right then, but only for a moment... the adrenaline rush from doing this was just so great!

Crossing that finish line was one of the coolest things ever - they even had an annoucer who called out your name as you crossed! And some cute little girls were just past the finish line that were putting medals around the necks of each person that finished. Yay, I got a medal!

I know I will never set any records because I'm really slow and still have to alternate between running and walking, but my goal was to finish in 3 1/2 hours. I finished in 2 hours and 35 minutes. Can you believe it?? I'm so proud of myself that I did this, I finished, and I did it much faster than I was expecting.

Will I ever do a full marathon? Doubtful. I can't imagine putting myself through that. But this is one more thing that I can add to my list of accomplishments. *sigh* It feels good. :)

P.S. My legs are still sore but really not that bad. I even went running again this morning (only 2 miles, though, to start). ;)