This Seemed Like a Good Idea 4 Months Ago {aka The Time I Survived a Half Marathon}

The morning started bright and early. I got up at 4:45 and read my bible, got dressed, ate a bagel and chatted with B for a few minutes before Katy came to pick me up.

We got to the starting place around 6:30 and it was cold and dark and sprinkling... not ideal weather for a half marathon.

 This is our group that we trained with. I've loved getting to know these girls!

 Katy and I at the starting line! About ready to go!

And then the race started... the first few miles were fine and we paced pretty quickly... it was drizzly and cool but ok at the beginning. We had a SUPER annoying group of people running close to us that kept speeding up and literally stopping two feet in front of us that went on for about 4 miles... but other than that things were fine. Around mile 8 though, it started raining harder and my body decided to do all kinds of crazy things. I will spare you the details but I've been reading about it since the race and apparently crazy tummy things can happen when you distance run... and I think that's what happened to me. Let's just say it's a good thing they had potties lining the race course-- and I could have used a few more more frequently placed. Alright, enough of that. But I am SO thankful for my friends who ran the whole thing with me-- Katy and Erica. We even busted out the major hill at the end-- and that is NO easy feat at all!

This is the official race photo from Mile 7

My finish line photo

I was SO happy when we rounded the corner at the finish line and I saw my family cheering me on! I knew Bryan and the boys would be there but I was surprised to see Tony, CJ and our twin nieces cheering at the finish line! I think the picture above was taken when I spotted them! I wasn't doing this race for the time. We figured we would end in about 3:30 based on our previous long runs and we beat that time by 10 minutes... I did my first one in 2:16 in college and I am not in NEAR as good of shape as I was then. But now we have a starting place to beat next time!

I'll be REALLY honest. I hugged Bryan at the finish line and literally lost it and cried and told him how horrible it was... I mean it really wasn't THAT horrible... but it wasn't what I expected at all. I wouldn't classify it as fun by any stretch of the imagination, and I have been going over it in my head and trying to figure out what was so bad about it. I think partially the weather, maybe we didn't train enough on the streets, and A LOT of it was my tummy probs... Will I do it again? Probably. My friends and I are wanting to take a girls trip and run another one maybe at the end of the summer. I've got to let my body recoup from this one first though.

So here I am with my metal. This little chapter is over for the time being. I'm giving myself a week to recoup and recover. Bryan and I are taking our boys on a fun little trip this weekend and after that I am back at it with 21 day fix and the fresh group I've got starting.

Hope you're having the happiest of Monday's. I'm getting caught up on house work and playing with a cute 2 year old while big brother is in school!