I did it.

Well, I did it.

I ran my half.

The best part about the day was all the love and support I had around me.

My Mom, Thomas, friends who called and texted and Facebooked, family who ran with me and called and texted and cheered me on at the finish line.... I am one blessed girl.

Some highlights:

Getting ready to run!

About to cross the finish line! (This is about how far my feet were off the ground for the whole race....)

Speedy and sweet Darla who waited over an hour to give me a sweaty hug. No, I can't feel my feet.

Happy hug. Congrats.

My bib and SWEET MEDAL.

 

 

 

I'm quite proud of myself. It was a hot day with a lot more uphill running than I was used to (what I was used to being NONE). I hadn't really run at all since the eleven miles I ran the day before I got sick, nearly three weeks before the race. Considering the circumstances I think I did awesome. Turtle pace (3:03), but I did it.

Life is a bit of a weird calm now. There's been all this build-up for months.... Scheduling around training, thinking about running, planning for running, running, running and running, and so on and so forth.... And now it's done and I have no idea what is next. I liken this to a wedding - months of planning and prepping, for it all to be over in 4 hours. It's a bit of an empty feeling.

Part of me wants to talk about the details of my experience. Part of me doesn't. I was almost expecting some kind of spiritual (for lack of a better word) experience in completing this huge goal, but really what happened was I ran the farthest I ever have with twenty-three thousand other people, and then I was tired and drank a lot of beer. It was a FUN day, and I reflect on my training and this accomplishment fondly, but it's actually been somewhat anti-climactic.

I have caught myself looking forward to going for a run once my body has recovered from the race, so..... I'm crazy.

Onward.