My FIRST half marathon!

I did it! I ran my first half marathon withOUT walking! I did have the raddest partner to keep me going though. =) Thanks to Jamie I kept a steady pace & had the best experience in my life doing it! It was so rad to run along the coast up & down KNARLY hills with total strangers (6500 of them) and seeing the other random people on the side of closed roads cheering us on. I never would have thought their handmade signs would be so inspiring. It felt like every 5 minutes I was looking over at my sister with the GOOFIEST & BIGGEST smile of my face, and I'm sure she was wondering what the heck I was looking at & more importantly...WHY was I smiling?! It was such a bonding experience to wake up SOOO early to drive down to the starting line, trying to pin my bib number on myself perfectly straight, walking up to those biffy's and standing in the LONGEST lines just to pee before we ran 13 miles! Being so nervous together and scared of running up that VERY long hill up Torrey Pines road, and then down what seemed to be NEVER ENDING, the very STEEP & uneven paved road of the scenic route down to La Jolla Shores Cove. Sprinting across that finish line because I was just DONE & seeing my family there supporting me was such a GREAT accomplishment for ME! I mean come on! I used to get a side ache walking up to the mailbox as a kid, I'd rather drive up there & it was just up the street. If I can do this, anyone can! I feel so addicted! I just had to find another race. I couldn't stop thinking about it. So....thanks to Clint, we'll be running one together (well, not really together because he's way faster than me) in San Diego August 15Th. I've taken about a week off from running and I think I'm having withdrawals! We went to Kim & Colette's condo last night for a bar-b-q, (I did most of my training in the fitness room there) and I had such strange feelings to that fitness room last night. HAHAH, like it was calling my name or I was cheating or something. All those long hours & hard work of getting ready for this half marathon-I didn't want the training to be over. So I am VERY excited for my run tonight when Clint gets home from work. =)
Luckily they gave me a gold medal because Rylee really wanted me to get one. Actually, she wanted me to WIN, but there was NO way that was gonna happen with 6500 other experienced athletes!

PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY!

The announcer said this at the starting line and I kept repeating it in my head when my thighs were burning up those hills & my knees were aching coming down. Picking up running like this for this half marathon has been life-changing for me. One of the funnest events ever in my life!