Thirteen Point One

 I am currently spread out on our chaise lounge, watching Elf with BB while SS naps and J makes dinner, wondering if I will be able to walk tomorrow, because this morning I accomplished a personal goal that I mentioned way back in this post - I ran a half marathon. Thirteen point one miles.

I trained for and ran the half marathon with my friend Ashley, and there's no way I could've done it without her company and accountability and stories. 

Of course we made matching shirts to run in. Here's our 4:40 am photoshoot:

 

The backs of our shirts were personalized with KickAsh and Run Like A Mother

The race was so much tougher than I expected - between the tossing and turning and dreams of missing the race, the 2 am snack, the 4:10 am wake up, riding a bus and then standing around in the pitch black before the sun finally came up, some lady business to contend with, having food in my belly when I normally like to run on empty, and the mostly downhill course with a couple of (killer) inclines in the last couple miles, the race was all so different from my usual running conditions. Ashley and I had trained well and I felt confident that we were ready to run this 13.1 miles, so I did not expect this race to be as challenging as it was. 

The first 6 miles really flew by, and we crossed the 6 mile clock at 1:06 (although we knew our chip time was a little faster, plus I had needed to stop and pee once (another thing I never do in a training run)). Then at mile 7 we saw our cheering squad - J, BB, and SS were there and J surprised me by wearing homemade cheering t-shirts, and our wonderful friends M & B and L were all there supporting us as well. B was unable to run this half marathon with us, but she is a super-runner and we had been running together on Sunday mornings all Fall. I loved seeing my boys and my BFF out there just for us. The miles continued to pass - we saw our cheering squad again around mile 10 - it was so great to have their encouragement, both the cheers on the sidelines, and the honks and cheers when they drove past us to meet us at the next point!

BB in his running pose on the sidelines

When we hit mile 11, it got real. The exhaustion, I mean. By 11.5, we were turning onto a side street and approaching some incline - I was wishing I could move faster, but just. couldn't. do it. Ashley and I, two extroverts, were silent at this point. Once we hit the inclines, Ashley was a machine and maintained her pace - I, on the other hand, slowed considerably but kept. on. running. When we would hit flat road, I picked up my pace to catch back up to Ashley. The final incline was about a half mile out from the finish line - Ashley continued her pace and I fell behind. Once I hit flat road I pushed it to finish - I saw our friends cheering at the final bend, rounded the turn as fast I could go after 13 miles, and saw our time up on the clock. 

I had been sure that after how tough the race was, and especially the last couple miles when I felt like I was crawling, that I would be scraping by to slide in under 2:30.  Our goals were as follows: Goal #1 - Finish the half marathon.  Goal #2 - Finish under 2:30.   And finally Goal #3, our oh-my-gosh-can-we-actually-do-this? goal - Finish in 2:15.

So when I saw 2:17 up on the clock, I burst into a smile, and heard Ashley's name and then my name called out over the intercom as we crossed the finish line. 

My official chip time was 2:16:24, at 10:25 pace. I am THRILLED!!!

 

Approaching the finish line

The Finish line! Finally!

              Ashley and I, officially part of the 13.1 club.       My fam, with J and the boys in the awesome 

                                                              shirts J surprised me with!!

 

BFFs and family out to support me - so thankful for all of their love!

 

Auntie Seen getting in on the running action

Oh and look how cute my little men were playing on the slides. SS loves the slide just like BB.

And now it's romantic movie time with my man. If I can stay awake, that is. My calves are broken.