finishers!

one bright and cool august saturday morning, christina and i woke up nice and early and headed up to annapolis for a half marathon. 

i am so proud of us, we did so awesome! 

i don't really think i'm all that awesome. 

i try. 

i try really, really hard, but i'm just not all that awesome. 

yet. 

but that half marathon, that was awesome.

christina totally pushed it too. she's a great running buddy! my goal was just to finish, but she said we should set a time goal. we talked a few numbers and finally came up with 2 hours and 15 minutes. that averages out to about 10 minute, 30 second miles. i am no professional runner, so that's pretty fast! but we figured a goal is something to aim for, so we went for it.

as we all lined up before the race they talked to us and told us that this half marathon is a great trainer for the very difficult marine corps marathon because it's one of the most difficult and hilly ones in the area! they said if we could finish the ben moore half, we could finish the marine corps marathon. we were scared! after the race when i looked up results, i found this review "It is clear from the race course that "Moore's Marines" got their name for a reason -- hilly, difficult training routes just like this one." 

yes, hilly and difficult is right!

the race was a loop, so we started up a pretty steep hill and as i was summiting it, i remember looking across the street and seeing the mile 12 marker, so i knew that the last few miles were gonna be hilly and killy. 

hahaha. ;)

we had talked about not staying together, that way if one of us got a surge of adrenaline, we could just go and not worry about the other one. or on the other hand, if one of us had some mishap, it wouldn't totally ruin the other ones race. anyways, we separated around mile 4 and never caught back up. i didn't plan very well, so i listened to gullivers travels, but i had borrowed that audio book before and not finished it, and i couldn't remember where i was, so i spent a lot of the time re-listening to chapters and trying to figure out where i was. then, around mile 11, i was exhausted and bored out of my mind, so i switched to pandora, but the songs were lame-o, and as i summitted the last big hill again and really needed an energy song to pick me up, i was listening to a stupid pandora ad. :(

but then i could see the finish line! but we had to then run alllll the way around the parking lot. but finally, finally i finished!!! in 2 hours and 4 minutes!!!! i ran the whole darn thing, and i ran it fast! i am so proud of myself! and i would definitely equate that to labor. it was really, really hard!

christina finished in 2 hours and 10 minutes. her cute family came out to cheer her on, it was really sweet. my cute husband had a navy day, so i knew my family wouldn't be there, but it was fun to see her little ones so excited for their mama.

two happy finishers!!!

that crazy, crazy route! christina found the race and i hadn't done any research, so i had no clue what to expect! i guess i'm glad i didn't know, i would have been so nervous!

i was tired after the race, but felt really good. no soreness even. my biggest complaint was some chaffing that i won't go into detail about. i guess training for a race really works. ;)

i have actually done a half marathon before, you see. a half marathon that i didn't train for because i had just found out that we were going to be welcoming this little cutie to our family:

back in 2011 amy had registered us for a see jane run - chocolate and champagne half marathon for while i was visiting her in seattle. and then, bam! we were both pregnant for our race. just first trimester, but still preggo. we ran about the first 3 miles and then walked the rest of the way. and stopped a million times to use the bathrooms. and my knee almost killed me. seriously, i almost called someone to come pick me up. i was so sore and tired and hurting! we got lunch, i came home, took an ice bath, and went to bed for the rest of the day (back in 2011) and then almost couldn't walk down the stairs. i was hurting for days after that race! and we finished in like, 4+ hours. like, we almost didn't make it because they were packing up. but we finished! so now i've done two halfs. look at me go! ;)

delaney loved wearing my medal. i think it's a good thing that my kids see me as more than just their mom, but as a person that can work hard and do something awesome. at least i hope that's what they see.

here was my mile breakdown. i never went over a 10 minute mile. go me!!!

 

anyways, enough about my awesome half marathon. 

now i'll just go back to my regularly scheduled blogging wherein my house is generally messy, i am always behind, and very rarely consistent in anything. :)