13.1

I've said it before....But if you would have told me that when I turned 30 last year, I would be running a half-marathon next year, I would have said you were crazy...But then something happened and I did run my first 5K in October, ran my first 10K in December and then ran a Half-Marathon only 5 months after that first 5K...Who knew!!.... I really think it was just going for that 10K when I realized that maybe a half-marathon was actually do-able...I was so tired and worn out from that 6.2 miles but I couldn't get it out of my head...After that race, Shea mentioned the Rock N Roll Half-Marathon in Dallas in March....That seed was now planted....I asked Angela if she would do it with me...She wasn't too sure...She said she might if we promised to run our long runs on the weekend...Then I asked Shea if she was serious...She wasn't so sure either with her husband being a fireman and not having just lots of opportunities to train with 2 kids as well...But they finally got on board...And Angela got Randi to join us.... Of course, I told Kerry I wouldn't do it at all if he didn't want too...This guy is great because he is just up for whatever I ask of him...He ran when he could and even joined us girls on the weekends...He would just run on ahead of us, but I loved having him there running with me....And again, my mom was our go-to person no matter what...She is amazing and there is no way we could have trained for 3 months for this if it wasn't for her...We owe her a lot for watching our 2 kids every Saturday and even sometimes twice during the week....What are we going to do now on Saturdays!!!...I'm up for a ladies run every Saturday (and Kerry) for whoever wants to join us...I think it would be fun:) Honestly this training flew by...I thought we lucked out with decent weather...There was only a few times where I knew I HAD to run on the treadmill at the gym...Other than that, we had great weather to prepare for this.... My only problem was 4 weeks ago, I pulled my quad muscle playing soccer....I don't know why I felt the need to go to my soccer games when I was training for this....I guess I felt I owed it to my team....But I did get injured and I was very upset...I got over it and took it easy and skipped the next few soccer games!!...I was feeling great as of this last week....But Wednesday (dumb me) walked through the kitchen with my hands full and pushed the kids table out of my way with my leg and there it was again...I knew that quad was NOT healed all the way and I just hurt it again...I didn't get my last run in on Thursday because it was throbbing pretty good...Same for Friday....But honestly Saturday, it was feeling OK....Got in the car around lunch and headed to Dallas....Walked to the convention center and back...And it really started bothering me...Walked to dinner and it was really hurting....Limped back to the hotel from dinner....Now I'm really, really worried...Like I think I might cry worried...All I know is that I worked so hard for this and deep in my heart really felt that this might not even happen...Kerry wouldn't even talk to me about it because he could tell how upset I was and didn't want to make me feel worse....There was some biofreeze in our swag bags and I put that on my leg and took some ib profen and went to bed...That's where I did a lot of praying...I felt really stupid praying to God to just let me be able to run---to let me not feel too much pain---but I did...I prayed hard.... Sunday morning we woke up at 5:45 am!!...Popped a lot more IB profen and put on some more biofreeze...We all got ready and headed towards the Cotton Bowl/Fair Grounds at 6:15 am...After heading the wrong direction and realizing it about 8 minutes in, we turned around and had to hit the interstate....OMG!!!!...The traffic was crazzzzzzyyyyy!!!...But good ole' Kerry was that person who bypassed ALL of it and went straight to the exit where we did get flipped off, but got in and exited....And then we lucked out again when this police officer let like 10 cars go through a gate we weren't supposed to...We parked and got on the bus and it was 7:30...The buses were supposed to stop taking people to the starting line at 7:30...We snapped these pictures before loading up.... Angela, Shea, Randi, and Me....

The back of our shirts say "Half Marathon Momma"

At this point, there were still 100's and 1000's of people still on the interstate and on the street just trying to park....We got there...Waited in line for awhile to pee...Headed over to our Corral at the starting line...The gun went off 2 minutes later...It couldn't have been more perfect timing....

I'm feeling pretty good...I tell the girls to go on ahead (even perfectly healthy---I can't keep up with them)....And I warn them, I might end up having to walk this whole damn thing and it might be awhile!!....

I take off and Kerry hangs with me for a minute or two...I give him the thumbs up and he's gone....I think the first 1.5 miles, I talked to God the whole time....Please let me make it...Please don't let my leg kill me...I can handle some pain, but not excruciating pain....Then my friend April finds me and takes my mind off my quad....We ran the whole way together...It was nice having her...This was her 2nd half-marathon...Her goal was to not walk and beat her previous time of 2:28....My leg was feeling really good...The first 8 miles were pretty much all uphill....I think that really helped me get nice and warmed up....Because the last 5 were basically all downhill and that's where it started to hurt...But not bad enough to walk:)....We started in downtown Dallas, ran through Highland Park, up by Dallas Country Club, over to SMU, and then back towards the Fair Grounds...It was a great route and I'm so glad I had some good company.....

I was so worried about my leg that I didn't want to push it too hard...April and I held onto a nice steady pace...I was afraid to go any faster....Our goal was around 10:30/mile and we were pretty close to that the entire time....Around mile 11, there was a water station and I didn't realize she grabbed a drink...I knew I couldn't slow down once realizing she wasn't beside me and I knew I had to go on...I really tried to kick it up just a tad....Then once I saw mile 12 I knew I was home free!....Running into the Fair Grounds felt great...My quad was OK, it wasn't hurting any worse than some other things....I wasn't that tired....I knew I was so close and that I actually did this!!...That last 1/4 mile I think I was in a full out sprint....And I flew across that finish line at 2:20!...I was so happy....Kerry had texted me when I was at mile 11 so I knew he was already done...He finished in 1:51:)...Angela and Randi were right under 1:59 and Shea was at 2:04...I was soooo impressed at how fast they all were...Awesome job...April finished right under 2:23!!...She beat her previous time and did NOT walk once:)

Here we are right afterwards....I felt bad that they had to wait 20 minutes on me...The weather was chilly...So being all sweaty and hanging outside, they were freezing!!...We pretty much walked straight to the car once I finished....

Our matching shirts turned out so cute...We had several compliments on them...And we had matching bondi bands too....At least we weren't wearing tutu's like some ladies...

I really had a great experience sore quad muscle and all....I honestly can't wait to do it again...Now, I don't think I will get a sub 2 hr time like my other friends...But I bet I can beat 2:20 next time:)....

Today I'm not very sore at all...I mean a feel a little bit here and there...Other than still just being tired from the whole experience, I feel pretty good....

Kerry, on the other hand, is sore today...He has improved as the day has gone on....But I have to say that he worked a lot harder than I did...He really kicked some bootie out there and his body is recovering today:)

I'm also saying that anyone can do this...I MEAN it, anyone:)....

Thanks Kerry for getting on board about this...Thanks for running with me....Thanks for being so inspiring....I love you:).....You can do a full-marathon...I KNOW you can!!!