I ran a half marathon today.

I have the best husband in the world. As you all know (because I have whined and complained on this blog many, many times) running has never been "my thing." Until today. At the finish line, after 13.1 miles, I saw my husband yelling and whistling and waiving this sign. It felt so good.

Along the way, way before our half-way point, there were a few women cheering on a friend of theirs who must have been right behind us. Their sign read, "The pain will pass but the pride will last." I kept that thought with me for the rest of the run.

Between miles 7 and 8 we ran through a fire station truck bay. There were dozens of firefighters there clapping and cheering for us. FOR US! Lisa and I gave them all a high five and yelled, "THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR US." Imagine, firefighters congratulating me on running a few miles. They run into burning buildings carrying 50 pounds of gear. Now that's amazing.

But the most amazing thing is that until today, I had never run more than 9.5 miles in one day...and even then I walked a fair amount of it. And I know I said all along that this was all about finishing, not setting personal records. Just finishing would have been a personal record. But I can say with an enormous sense of pride and accomplishment that not only did I finish, but I ran the whole thing. And I don't mean "ran" in the 13-minute mile pace I was hoping for. I mean that I finished 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 40 minutes. That's an average pace of about 12 minutes per mile. And 7 of them were faster than that. I am so stinking happy.

I did it. And I plan to do it again. I will blog more after I get my hands on some pictures. And in the meantime, I am going to take a nap with a very willing beagle sidekick!



There will be more pictures to come, but for today, my legs are spent and I feel incredible. Chris