I am still alive!

Actually, I feel really good. The half-marathon was the perfect balance of a girls-getaway, a challenging work-out, and an inspiring achievement. I almost cried. And then I ate two pieces of spinach pizza and felt better:) Here’s the run-down:

 The ladies and I make it to Shepherdstown, WV about 3.5 hours after leaving DC. Dang that Friday traffic! We grabbed a semi-disappointing bite to eat at a cute little place on main street. I ordered wild mushroom ravioli, which was good, but in a sort of watery looking sauce. Brooke and Ivy had mediterranean zucchini soup, that reportedly tasted like Prego. However blah the fare, it was really fun to be out to dinner with some good girl friends.

After dinner, we walked to the University to pick up our packets. I was nervous that my name wouldn’t be on the list, even after all this, but it was. No sweat.

 We thought a scoop of ice cream sounded like a perfect pre-race dessert and a guy in town pointed us towards the only ice cream place around, Nutter’s. It was cute, and had a good selection of flavors.

 I went with cherry vanilla. Love those maraschinos. My stomach was churning a little bit from dinner, so the ice cream felt good. We caught the last couple scoops before the place closed, then headed to the Comfort Inn. I changed into pj’s, retrieved a toothbrush and paste from the front desk, painted my nails (does any one else not find time for this with kids?), chatted with the hubby, shared some last thoughts with the ladies, and drifted off into a not-very-comfortable Comfort Inn sleep. Who needs a good night’s rest before their first big running race anyway?

I awoke for the last time at 6:57 am, a real treat compared to my usual 5:20 am wake up time. It was actually nice to not roll straight out of bed and hit the road. We got to leisurely change into our gear, stretch out a bit, brush, pack, and even hit up the continental bar on the way out. 

I think I went to the bathroom six times before the start. A few at the hotel then once at on campus as we were waiting for 8:20 am to roll around. When I get nervous, I have to go. It happens before speaking in church, too. Right as the buzzer sounded…or it might have just been an announcement over a loud speaker…I realized I had to go again. Shoot. I did okay for the first couple miles, even passed up the porto’s at mile 3…then might have begun a distracting sort of leak prevention campaign until finally pulling into the vacant john at mile 6. What a relief. (tmi? Hey, just keeping it real.)

 The battlefield of Antietam began the hills of the run. Up and down and up and down for about six miles. Luckily, Brooke had actually looked at the course map before the race, so we trained on hills all summer. It was a good thing. The course was beautiful and killer. Yeah, we packed a camera along, for fun!

Here I am back pedaling to show you the last monster hill. This was just about mile 8. Look at that sucker! We were very proud to run the whole thing. Almost every single person was walking from about half way up. Not us. Though slow, we ran all the way to the top and kept on running. What a beast.

And a relieving recovery. Luckily, the hills were broken up with some nice flats and even some downs. We managed to keep our pace pretty well throughout the whole race.

I spy a crazy guy running the half-marathon in bare feet. He was ahead of us the whole race. What a tough nut!

Other than my bathroom break, this was the only pause I took during the whole run. Even to drink a bit of water and Powerade, I continued jogging. But Llamas? Who wouldn’t stop for a quick photo op with them? The fur was so soft I sort of wanted to just hop on and nestle in and take a nap. However, there were three miles left. 

Those last three were great. I sped up just a bit to keep my knees supported, plugged in my ipod for the first time, and let John Mayer and Air Supply coo me into the finish. There was a huge, gorgeous bridge just a block before the stadium, and it got me all emotional. Too much reflection in a worn out state! Then, the actual finish was crazy because we had to run past the stadium, all the way around it, and in the back side onto the field! I passed a bunch of runners who had no doubt thought they were done, lost all their steam, and were now walking around the final corner into the finish. Sort of a weird configuration, but I made it at a dead sprint. I had to either give it all, or give up. Then I was done!

I was super excited to see my boys at the finish. Poster board and all! 

A big hurray to Julianne, again, without whom, this post (and race) would not be.

I loved snuggling with my snot-nosed baby. This trip was only the second time I’ve been away from him at night, and it is still a little weird. I am happy Dave does such a great job when I’m away. And I can’t wait to get Milo into my arms and nuzzle his soft little neck until he giggles and wraps his little arms around my head and squeezes me like he missed me.

We all noshed some Domino’s at the finish, walked across the street to retrieve our free souvenir beer glasses, and with that we loaded into the car and began the ninety minute commute home to the city. I tried to stretch out my legs a bit in the car, but ended up in the back, rubbing Milo’s tummy to help him sleep despite full-to-overflowing nostrils.

Freshly painted toes hide the almost detached nail on my left foot. Turns out these feet were made for running…