First Half Marathon, 2012

 I have successfully finished my first half marathon! A year ago, I faithfully tracked my friends that were running and thought, hey I would like to do this some day. Fast forward to the fall, I was successfully running 5-6 miles at a time and two of my half marathon friends told me that if I could run that far, I could easily do 13.1 miles. I.was.not.convinced.
In mid-December, I signed up for this race today. I looked at several training programs and decided on one. It was 12 weeks long, meaning I would start training in mid-February. No problem if you own a treadmill, I don't. Thankfully we had a very mild winter here and I had no problems running outside most days.
I would run 2-4 miles 3 days a week and then on Saturday mornings, I ran a longer distance. Until today, the longest run I had ever done was 12 miles and that was last week.
Thankfully we have something called adrenaline! What an exciting experience!

 I am towards the middle of this picture, somewhere between mile 7 and 8. My parents and my children and husband came out to see me along the way and cheer me on! It was so awesome to know they were supporting me!!

I am reaching out to give Calla a high-5! She was yelling so loud!!

Here I am coming in to the finish. We finished on the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium.

I successfully finished the race in 2 hours, 33 minutes, and 4 seconds!! My goal was 2 hours 30 minutes, so I am a tiny bit disappointed, but very proud of where I am today!

I run for me. I run because it makes me feel great. I run so I am healthier. I run because I love it. I run so hopefully my children will see how much I love it and want to be healthy and run with me someday.

Finishing=Winning