And just like that…I ran a half marathon!

Happy Monday everybody!!

This is probably my favorite weekend recap to date!

So as you can tell, I survived my first half marathon!!!!

It was so much more than I imagined, both mentally and physically!
Lets just go into how the weekend progressed!

Friday night:

The hubby and I started our carb loading that night with shrimp scampi pasta! I was getting extremely nervous about the race and my legs. As I mentioned here, I did not have the greatest run and the pain in my legs. I took everyones advice and really rested them the next few days! Had an hour session in the sauna to really loosen them and that seemed to help a lot! I did my two miler on Friday and no pain, but was still worried…would these legs get me through 13.1 miles on Sunday?

Saturday:

The husband and I were up bright and early to get ready to head to Williamsburg! Williamsburg is only a 45 min to an hour trip from Virginia Beach…when there is no traffic. After having to turn around and head back home because I realized I forgot my sports bra (omg that would’ve sucked!), we were on the road….and then…

Accident in the tunnel and it was blocked!! AGHHHHH! Maybe its a sign….LOL!
We finally moved after about an hour, and it was pretty smooth sailing to the expo!

The expo for the race was pretty cool! Various vendors were there to include Garmin, GU, and other local vendors. This was a relatively small expo, as it was about 1500 runners registered! We got our bib numbers and were all set!

Map of the course! Was happy to see how many water, gatorade, and GU stops there was. Nerves kicking in!

 

With our registration, we got free passes to Busch Gardens, which was about 10 mins away, so we took advantage of having no kids with us and headed there to ride all the rides we couldn’t had our mob been with us! It was so much fun! Lots of laughs and quality time with the hubby that we don’t get very often!!

 

After a few hours, we had dinner with our friends who was running the race with us, and then got to our hotel to call it a night. Well the hubby called it a night. I, on the other hand, had gotten myself completely involved with the book “The Fault in our Stars” by John Green! I started reading it a bit on the drive up, but I get motion sickness if I read too much! So, I told the hubby one more chapter and I was going to bed….well…that turned into completing the book, crying, and not turning off the light till 11:30pm when we had to get up at 5am…before my first race….ugh!!

Sunday:

The alarm awoke and I rose from my bed earlier that I have in a very long time…I’m not even sure Jesus was up yet! Hubby and I ate our english muffins with raisin PB and our bananas, got dressed, and headed out. We wanted to be at the race area around 6:15 to meet some other people that were running it from Josh’s ship! I ate my packaged of sports beans, sipped on one of the crappiest cups of coffee from the hotel, and just waited! I was mad because I kept trying to use the bathroom, and I think my insides were just afraid of the porta potties, but nothing….dry….nothing. I was mad cause I just knew the minute we took off, I was gonna have to go. So now I was even more nervous!

 

 

All you really could do was goof off and maybe they nerves would go away!

We lined up, and before you know it, I was off! The husband was ahead of me, as there were no corrals, but there was time pacers running with their signs. My goal for myself was to finish in under 2:30. At the end of the day, I just wanted to finish, but if I could finish in under 2:30, that would be the icing on the cake. So when I found that pace group, I started right ahead of them. As long as I didn’t see that sign pass me, I should be good. I never saw that sign again! 🙂

Miles 1-6 were pretty good. The most shocking thing for me was the hills. I was NOT prepared for hills. I mean I live by the beach, no hills here! There was a big one around mile 3 that I was using some cuss words, but made it through! Around mile 6, we entered the trail run portion. Being surrounded by the trees was really nice. For me, I found it to get a bit boring on this leg of the run! Lots of hills again, more curse words, but no walking for me. I just kept pushing through!
As I approached mile 10, I knew now that I was in territory I hadn’t been at before! I was officially running longer than I ever had! I kept telling myself that I just had a 5K left, and that I could do it! It was hard! My legs burned with every hill I approached! But, I kept thinking about my husband waiting at the finish line for me. He is my biggest supporter, and all I wanted to do was finish, make him proud, and hug him. Around mile 11, I had reached the 2 hour mark and I knew that my husband should’ve crossed the finish line by then ( he ended up finishing at 1:50!!). I just kept pushing. Slowly, but pushing. At almost mile 13, we reached another hill and then entered William and Mary’s stadium. All I had to do was run this track and I was done. And then I heard him screaming my name! I saw him, then started crying! I don’t know what came over me, but there were the tears! And in my wonderful husbands fashion he yelled “Stop that damn crying and run!” And run I did! I took off around that track! Tears streaming down my eyes, I crossed that finish line with a semi smile on my face! I did it! The clock said 2:25! I even did it under 2:30. I got my hug from my husband, cried some more, and got that beautiful medal on my neck! I was officially a half marathoner!

About to cross the finish line!

It was a wonderful day!!! Official time was 2:25:39. One I will never forget! I set out a goal and I did it! I crushed it! I am so proud of myself! I am so thankful for all the support from my husband, friends, and all of you! Thank you for believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself.

And yes, we did celebrate! We went to 5 Guys and I had the BEST bacon cheeseburger with fries and a coke! Totally ate back the 2200 calories I burned, but holy hell it was delicious!!

Have you completed your first half marathon? Any criers like me?  What time did you finish? What did you do to celebrate your accomplishment??