First Half

It all boiled down to this. March 21, 2010. After weeks of training, it was finally time to run my first half-marathon! To say I was nervous would be an understatement. (I woke up three times the night before, once to a nightmare that I was nauseous from running. Eek!) John Vaughn, his neighbor Jack, and I ventured to New Bedford early Sunday morning to brave the 13.1 miles with 2,600 other runners. We fueled up with some oatmeal, bananas, and high-quality H20. At 11:12am, we powered off in the perfect weater (60 and sunny, who'da thunk it for March?!). My goals were to a) finish, b) not finish last, c) finish under 3 hours, and d) run the entire way. Well, I accomplished a through c. I finished. I placed 2,263rd (haha, still wasn't last though!). I ran the half in 2:40:44. I have to admit; I took a walk break after mile 8, which meant that I took a couple more before mile 12. I hit a wall and it hit back! It's ok though, I still completed the race and was able to power through the final mile. The last two tenths were a full-out, balls-to-the-walls, last-bit-o-fuel sprint. That finish line could not have come soon enough!

If it weren't for the support of family and friends along the way, however, I don't think I could have made it. Dad, Karen, Brittany, and Christian were there at the beginning, a few places in the middle, and at the end. Zanna and Ronnie from the Inn made sure to cheer on the big hill around mile 3 and then watch me cross the finish line. Matt and Heather drove up from Rhode Island to root me on around mile 11. John Vaughn inspired me to register for the race and kept tabs on my training each week. I really could not have asked for a better group :) We continued celebrating at various New Bedford establishments with fellow Inn-mates Leily, Scott, and Joey.

Once my eyes began to close at the bar, though, it was time to call it a night (not to mention, the shower was beyond calling to me, it was officially yoddeling... and no one likes a yoddeling shower). All in all, it was a fantastic day... minus the 13.1 miles of pain. I'm never doing that again! Well, except for my next half-marathon in June. Oh, and probably the New Bedford half again next March. What the heck? Might as well sign up for a bunch of races in between, right? Basically, the fact is that I'm nowhere near done racing. I'm hooked :)

The crowd before the starting gun... 2600-deep!

I'm the idiot waving on the left at mile 5

Beginning of mile 12--painful but Christian and Brittany running beside me was a huge help (see them on the far right!)

Sprinting to the finish--the last few yards!

Celebrating post-race with oranges and my medal... and impersonating a monkey... a girl with many talents haha

*Photos courtesy of Brittany and Karen. Thank you both for capturing this day! :)