THE BIG RACE!!

Sunday was the big day...the day that I had been anticipating since May. It was my first half marathon!

I had been training for 3 months for this race and was READY when the weekend finally arrived. I was a little nervous about it because my knees had recently started hurting again and I didn't know if one (or both) would give me trouble.

On Saturday afternoon I headed out to the mall of Georgia area to run some errands and do a little shopping. I even made a stop to get my eyebrows waxed (guess I wanted to look good for the big day, ha ha). I met up with my friend, Jennifer, who signed up to run it with me. She is a big runner and has done lots of marathons and half marathons - amazing!! We went out to eat at Carraba's and then came back to settle in and watch a movie. We had a GREAT time hanging out!

We had to leave about 5:30 the next morning to meet up with our other friends, Laura and Frankie, and head down to the Brookhaven area for the race. It was a little chilly and still dark out! We arrived just in time and I didn't even have time to think about whether or not I could make it, because the gun went off! Time to start! It was a REALLY pretty course and took us through many nice neighborhoods with beautiful houses. I noticed that it was pretty hilly and Jennifer commented afterward that she thought it was the hilliest race she'd ever run! (Oh my!) {grin}

I ended up running most of the race with Jennifer because Laura hurt her ankle toward the beginning. She and Frankie caught up to us in the last few miles of the race, however, and we all finished together. How awesome! I am not going to lie and say it wasn't tough there toward the end...I remember thinking, "Lord, you've helped prepare me for this...and I know that you can give me the strength to make it to the end!". I started to feel my knees a little bit and had quite the stomachache but I was NOT going to give up. {grin} I think one of the coolest things about the race was about an hour into it, the guy who was in the lead came SPRINTING past us on his way back to finish the race. It was so neat! I couldn't imagine running that fast the entire 13 miles. WOW.

It was a challenging but wonderful experience! I was so thankful to have friends to run it with and who knows if I'll ever do one again...I'll just have to wait and see!

Btw, I didn't have a camera but I found some pictures online that they took during the race. I couldn't find one of me crossing the finish line. I look PRETTY silly in all of them. Go ahead and laugh!

Just click on these links:
http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_photo.asp?PID=&EVENTID=54031&PWD=&ID=74548736&FROM=browser&START=277&SHOW=12&CAT=0&SUB=0

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_photo.asp?PID=&EVENTID=54031&PWD=&ID=74549814&FROM=browser&START=354&SHOW=12&CAT=0&SUB=0
(I don't look like I'm running in this one, but I swear I ran the whole thing. Ha ha)

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_photo.asp?PID=&EVENTID=54031&PWD=&ID=74612361&FROM=browser&START=1038&SHOW=12&CAT=0&SUB=0

Jennifer (after the race)


Me (after the race...looking silly)