Victory.

First R&R Half Marathon in 1:51:24 for St Jude's Hospital. 

 I can't believe I finally completed my first half. In a way, it felt like it snuck up on me, but in other ways, I feel like it took forever. I am so glad I did my best to train and stayed dedicated to my goal. Accomplishing my goal of running it under 2 hours feels phenomenal. Emmalyn was at her grandmother's house, but one day I hope she'll run one with me. There were so many times I wanted to give up because of the hills, the heat, etc. But I never did. I want Emmalyn to look back at each race I finished & be proud. Here's how it all went.... 

My first tat. I'm that committed.

 I made sure to carboload the night before, with some whole grain noodles, ground turkey, and some veggies. Not gonna lie, I ate more than my share. It was that good. Call me Paula Deen's healthy sister.

My alarm went off at 3:30am. I was so tired, I forgot why I was getting up. Ever have one of those mornings? I had laid everything out the night before (apparently a great idea) so slipping into my outfit and grabbing the nearest cup of coffee was easy. 

In the morning, I'm Asian & by noon, I'm white again. It's strange.

I got to LP field and met up with Emily to catch our shuttle bus to the starting area. We were so tired, but pumped up with excitement. I was actually shaking like a leaf at times with nerves, but I'm sure excitement was in there somewhere. 

Insert cute morning faces.

We got to the starting area by 5am & had tons of time left before the 7am race. Apparently having tons of time = tons of photo ops everywhere. We also met up with Will, another runner friend from the group we joined.

Yes, I stand with my knees locked & pose like superwoman.

First timers.

Our "D-tags" that kept track of our time as we ran.

 Along with the nerves comes the "nervous pee." You know, when you have the urge to pee like every 15 minutes. It was so annoying. The port-o-nasties' lines were forever long & I would never have set foot in them if it weren't race day & totally necessary. The last time I used one, I got locked in it and there was no TP. I probably could use some therapy for it. Anyway, it took about 40 minutes to finally get into one. I'm telling you, every runner in the general area made some colorful artwork with their crap in that thing. There were layers upon layers of that stuff, and the smell was enough to kill a small kitten. Or two. I tried holding my breath, but I wasn't beast enough to not breathe for 2 minutes. Gotta work on that.

Clearly had to pee.

The lines for the "toilets." Redic.

The start time was finally nearing, so we took off our warm-up clothes & brought our bags to the "gear check area." All the UPS trucks were labeled with the first letter of everyone's last name, so of course, I was in the 17th truck of 18. I left my swag bag filled with my special belongings in hope they'd take good care of it. We left and went to our corrals where I literally felt like I was going to pee myself over and over. No, I normally do not have a bladder control problem. But put me in a corral like an animal waiting for my turn to run, and there's where the issue comes in. Waiting. The anticipation was intense, and every one around me was hopping, stretching, meditating, etc. It was craycray. I just wanted to start the race already because I was using so much energy being nervous and my heart probably ran an equivalent of a marathon today considering the intensity and speed of my heart rate ALL MORNING LONG. 

Our walk to the corrals was SO exhilarating.

 The countdown finally started & each corral moved closer to the starting line. I was in corral 12 of 30-something, and it took 16 minutes for my corral to finally be released into the wild. That was such an unreal feeling. I was finally starting my half marathon, finally. I wanted to take a photo, but I needed to conserve my battery since my phone (camera) would be used for an ipod and a mile tracker for the next 1 hour and 51 minutes, which was obviously importante.

Miles 1-2 were easy other than the fact that I was weaving in and out of the slower runners. It was so congested at times, so I think next time, I'll put myself in a faster corral. Live & Learn. Anyway, I was trying to stick on target with my 1:45 dream, and it was going pretty good at that point. When I would bump into someone, I would be so sweet and apologetic.

Miles 3-5 were getting harder because a family of super large and rude hills tried killing us all. Little did I know, that would be the first set of many little jerks to come. Look at the craziness of it! 

RUDE.

Miles 6-7 were  just plain horrible. I ran out of my water, and it was really taking everything in me to try and stay on track for my 1:45 dream. I started making use of every water/gatorade table, but they were not close enough together for my liking. Next time, I'd take a running belt with tons of water/gatorade because I'm like a camel and can put liquids away like nobodies business. The "fans" on the sides with signs, cow bells, loud music, were really kind, but when I was just trying to get through that part of the run, it really became overwhelming at times. Between my music, my thoughts of wanting to just stop, the heat, the hills, the loud cow bells, I was really overstimulated or something. They were all so sweet, they really were. Some opened their homes up to all of us if a potty break was necessary & offered orange slices but during those miles, I just tried everything to ignore and tune them out. It's like when you're driving and get lost, you turn the music down because you gotta focus. You're frustrated and want to be at your destination, but you're lost and that's annoying. You know you're not the only one who does that, right? By this point, the "I'm sorry's" and "Excuse me's" were gone. I bumped into people and didn't even care. Shouldn't have been in my way. Duh. You're lucky I didn't shove you to the ground.

Thanks, Emily for these awesome shots.

The epitome of sexy. She must work out.

 Miles 8-10 is when I really realized I needed to slow down. I started getting chills and shivering a bit, so I got scared I would over-heat. I had already seen several runners taken off the course by stretchers because of heat exhaustion, so I listened to my body, even though my mind really wanted to stick on my goal. I wished I was superwoman in real life. At that point I realized I wouldn't make my 1:45 dream, but my goal of finishing under 2 hours was still possible.

Somewhere around mile 8.

Miles 11-13 were the most difficult. They felt like they would never end. I was so thirsty since the gulps of liquid every 2 miles just weren't cutting it. I had to take two, 10 second walk breaks. Those were so tough on me mentally. I never stop, ever. I couldn't believe that on the last 2 miles, the 2 miles that I planned to run my heart out, I couldn't even run a 9 minute pace. I had to slow down and let several runners just keep passing me. As each one passed I felt worse and worse about myself. After the 10 seconds, I would force myself to run again and try to stop beating myself up for stopping. I knew I could finish, even if it meant a having a 10 minute mile for one of the 13. Finally a man yelled out, "Only 400 yards left, give it your all." And that's what it took for me to kick it up a couple notches. That man motivated my legs that were disobeying my mind for miles. I wished he were there sooner. I sprinted as fast as my heavy, tired legs could handle. I crossed the finish line soaking wet and completely tired, but ecstatic to be victorious. 

Just crossed the finish line & was on the prowl for water.

Low-fat Chocolate milk & Strawberries. Refueling never felt so good.

 Oh, yeah. Sheryl Crow ran the half marathon today. I didn't see her, but I beat her. Yup, by like 8 minutes. Here are our comparisons...

Did you know Sheryl Crow's real name is Lisa Martin? ...Me either.

She's on the right.

I may not have won the most photogenic woman award in any of the course race "pro" photos (we'll see, they'll be posted within 48 hours), but I did earn this baby. Sleeping, showering, & eating with it is totally normal, right?

My bling bling.

It's so beautiful.

 I finished what I started. I stuck to my training and did what I set out to do. I'm so proud of myself, I really am. I didn't let school or motherhood stop me, I just squeezed in a run whenever possible. I already have plans for more half marathons, but I think I'll just do this R&R Nashville one annually for now. As for marathons, highly unlikely. Unless, I was being chased by some hungry lions and there was a large sum of money at the end for the winner. Only exception. The entire Rock & Roll organization team did a great job, it all went so smoothly, and I'm so happy to know my money is helping some sick children at St. Jude's. Thanks for all the encouragement, support, and love you all have given me. Some more than others, but you know who you are. :)

After the race, I went to IHOP with my family, put my 13.1 sticker on my car, & lived happily ever after.

Highly recommend the Blueberry Grain & Nut pancakes. Delish.

Not gonna lie, the sticker needs to be bigger.