Well, it's official...I am a half marathon runner!  I willingly admit to thinking, especially around miles 9, 10, and 11, that the race wouldn't end.  But I did it!  I was sad to realize, as I stood at the starting line, that they were giving out 13.1 stickers at registration (I previously mentioned this played a large part in my wanting to run).  When I registered I didn't get one and as you can imagine doing any additional walking after the race, for anything, was absolutely out of the question.  So I'll just have to go buy my own one of these days.

First things first.  My time.  I set a goal of running this beast in 2 hours and 30 minutes.  There's no real reason for this being my goal time other than a friend ran a half a couple of weeks ago and he did it in 2:25.  I figured if he could I could probably get a somewhat comparable time so that was my goal.  I didn't make it though.  I actually ran it in 2:50, so just 20 minutes off, but I'm not at all sad or disappointed.  This was my first half and before this my longest run had been 6 miles so I'm more than happy with my results.  It averages out at about 13:30 minutes per mile, but that's the average.  I know my first 7 miles were quicker, but things drastically slowed down.  But again, not at all ashamed.

Here are a couple of pictures from race day.

The Half Marathoners!

This is what the bib looked like. (Photo borrowed from Lacey)

 

I'm not sure who took this as I was clearly running.

The medal all the runners received.  Quite possibly my most prized possession!

I bought myself the coveted 13.1 magnet.  YEEEESSSS!!!!

The awesome sign Kelly made for me.  Best. Fan. Ever. :)

At you can imagine, I didn't have a camera while I ran so I didn't get any pictures of our fans, but I did get a picture of the sign Kelly made for me!  As this moment I can't imagine choosing to run another race, but I have a feeling it will be like when I got my tattoo...immediately after I was okay with just the one, but after a while the itch to get another keeps rearing it's head.  We shall see though!  For right now I'm swearing off running for at least a week!