I survived my first half marathon!

Whew!  It's over!  I survived!  I completed my goal!

Last night Jay and I went to pick up my packet and I had already been nervous all day long...fear of the unknown I suppose.  Somehow getting my packet, my number and seeing my name on a screen made it all seem real.  I was really doing this....gulp.

I met up with my bros before the race.  Matt on the left was doing the full marathon and Jonathan and I were doing the half.  We were all ready to race...just a few minutes until we walked to our corrals.

The corral area was CRAZY crowded.  For the race, you get in the corral number based on your projected finish time.  The faster ones (like 5:30 per mile...ridiculous!) were in the front and then every 2 minutes they would let the next group go.  As you can tell, I was way in the back ha!

This guy was standing next to me in the corral....are you kidding me???  Barefoot running a marathon?!?!  Oh and Jonathan and I were laughing...he had some long toenails too.  He  could have at least painted those suckers!  Gross!

Getting close to the starting line...almost race time!

And we were off!!!  About mile 3 1/2, my mom, dad, Allen, Jenna, and my kids were there rooting us on with signs.  I was so happy to see them...seeing my kids gave me the boost I needed to keep going!  Then between mile 4 and 5 we ran through the St. Jude campus...wow.  I had to swallow multiple times to keep down the tears!  There were parents (and patients) on the sidelines crying as they were cheering us on, "Thanks for running for my child!"  Gulp.  I couldn't hold back the tears!!!  It was very emotional and it made me thankful for my health and ability to run this race...what a privilege and an honor!

This was as we were entering the St. Jude campus...

(Heather B. you are at the bottom of the big tv bottom right corner...so good to see you there!)

There were people everywhere throughout the race cheering us on and it was just what I needed.  When we did go through the "quiet" spots where it was only just us runners, it was harder to push on.  But when we would hear people cheering, bands playing, people holding up silly signs, it made us laugh and keep on keeping on.  Funny story...early in the race a man was running in front of me and he had a sign taped to the back of his shirt that said, "Run faster...I just farted!"  Gross I know but it made me laugh!

Jay had my camera and took pics of us coming in.  Jonathan and I ran the first 7 miles together and then he took off to speed up his time.  I ran an 11 minute mile average which is what I expected to do.

The stands were packed....18,000 runners and all their families coming to cheer them on!

Jonathan comes in at 2 hours and 13 minutes...

And I came in at 2:25!  I was so proud to just finish!  

Saying hi to the kids...

I had several goals coming in to the race....

1. To finish.
2. To try and finish before 2:30 if I could but wasn't going to get upset if I was a little over.
3. To not embarrass myself!
4. To finish the half before my brother finished the full ha!
5. To run consistently throughout the whole race, no walking.

AND I completed all my goals!  I finished in 2:25 (5 minutes less than my goal) and I ran the whole thing only stopped to go to the bathroom at mile 1 once and I walked through the water stations (10 seconds or so) so I wouldn't choke while drinking my water.

I felt great throughout the whole race and even until mile 10, I was thinking this really isn't bad at all!  But the last two were hard but not too bad.  I could just tell my body was getting tired and my knees were hurting.  Overall, it was easier than I thought it would be and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!  So who wants to run with me next year????

After I crossed the finish line, we headed over to see Matt finish the full marathon.  He came in at 3:30 which is amazing time!!  I couldn't have done it for sure!

Post race...we were all smiles other than some leg cramping, sore knees, hungry bellies and sweaty clothes!

So proud....big accomplishment for me!

Part of my cheering section....

These were the signs that Karis and Lolli made for us...

Ok look at this picture closely...see on my neck what looks like a scarf?  Well Karis informed me it was sweat haha!  It made me laugh!

 What a wonderful experience!  6 months of training came down to today and it was all worth it!  Back in June, I struggled to run ONE MINUTE and today topped out at 2 1/2 hours!  I started with Couch to 5K and then built from there.  If you are thinking there is no way you could do it, YOU CAN!  I promise if I can do it, you can too!  :)