I did it

With a pained look on my face and tears in my eyes, I completed my first half marathon. I had prerace jitters that didn't go away until after the race began. I tried to keep a 10 minute mile pace with friends, but was surprised when I had to back off from them before mile 1. Once I hit mile 1 I looked at my watch and saw that I did it in 8 mins and 58 seconds. Well that explained why I couldn't keep up with them, they were just too fast for me. I stopped for 30 to 40 seconds at each water station to drink and stretch,then kept running. I was glad to see hubby, kids and friends in between mile 5 and 6. Once I hit mile 7, I was happy to see that I had made it past the half way point. I saw the family again between mile 9 and 10 and got high fives from the kids. It really does something to your self esteem, when you have someone cheering you on. I got a little worried around mile 10, when you are going down and then up again for at least 1/2 a mile. My body started to rebel and I started to doubt myself. I didn't give up though and started to bounce my head in time with the music on the Ipod. I called the hubby at mile 12 to make sure they were at the finish, because I was almost done. He told me to step up my pace and I told him I couldn't. As I rounded the corner and saw the finish line and my family, I gave it all I had left and crossed the finish line. I then went to stretch and started to cry. I don't know really why I was crying, but it felt good. I didn't hit my goal time, (wasn't that far off) but considering the weather I think I did really well. Here are a few photos for your enjoyment.