Ready to Run

13. 1 miles--Hartford ING Half-Marathon.
I did it!!!

I will probably be ramblesome in my details since this race was a large part of my past 6 months, so feel free to just look at pictures if you like.

So, my sister Megan ran the half marathon last fall and I went to cheer her on. The day was amazing and decided then that I would run the race this year. I'm so glad I committed myself to doing it. It has been a fun, hard, crazy, never ending, but amazing experience.

RACE DAY!

A FAMILY AFFAIR! Mom and Kellie flew out to visit and do the 5K (I think the race was just a good excuse to come visit). Mom has already walked 2 half marathons this year and she and Kellie have already done a previous 5K this summer. Megan came in from NYC with 3 friends to run the race as well. This was Megan's 4th half marathon for 2010. Needless to say, I was definitely the inexperienced racer of the group. It was so fun with all of them around; I'm glad we did it together.

MY BUDDIES! 3 of my good buds trained with me and kept me pumped these last few months/weeks. Bonnie has been on board with me since last fall when I decided to do it. Terri moved in not too long ago and joined in training immediately and Tanjua got on board with us this summer and has been a powerhouse. I have loved having friends to do this with--it's made the training more fun. Plus, they all ran SO WELL in the race and it was fun getting to be excited for them!!

I drove to the race with mom, Megan and Kellie and then couldn't find these guys anywhere. Even calling each other, there were just so many people. I finally just acknowledged that I wouldn't be able to see them and was so bummed. Megan, her friend Cassie, and I slipped into the mass of people at the starting line (or starting herd I should say since we are talking thousands!). I looked straight down the row from us and saw Bonnie and Tanjua about 10 people from me!!!! I couldn't believe it! It was a true blessing to get to see them and be excited with them before things began.

THE RACE BEGAN! Matt scored big points for being the highlight of my race day. He came with the kids and I was expecting to see them at the finish line. He surprised me though and just past mile 3, I see Matt and the kids all cheering me on. Holy cow, I was so excited!!! He caught me in this picture waving my arms to the kids and being so excited. He then drove the kids around and they were cheering for me around mile 5 and somewhere between mile 7 and 8, not to mention the finish line. I loved it!!!!

I split from Megan at mile 3 when her knee was acting up (as it has been for a few weeks) and went solo. Around the time of my arm waving picture, I started feeling like I was going to throw up; pretty much, the entire race went downhill from here.

This shot was around mile 5. I told Matt at this point that I felt like I would throw up. It all began about a mile later. The rest of the race was a mixture of feeling sick, having serious lower back pain, and major side cramps. Joy of joys. It was definitely my worst running day in all of my 6 months of training. I couldn't get out of the mental funk I was in of wanting to quit and of being so mad as I was going slower and slower.

All done!!! Ta-da!!!

But...I kept going. I finished. I did it in 2 hours and 29ish minutes. It was 15 minutes slower than I had hoped and expected and I was upset the entire day--it didn't help that I was exhausted, sick and in pain. But then on Sunday I finally got my needed nap and went to bed early as well. Now that I'm not tired, I am proud that I did it and feel amazed that I did as well as I did considering how horrible it was.

So that's it. Will I do it again? You bet. Matt has committed to running it with me next year. And next year's goal won't be a specific time or specific pace, it will be "Have fun."

I can't wait.