I did it! Nashville Women's Half Marathon Recap

Well, I finished, and I was pretty excited as you can see!!

Race day was amazing!  My mom and dad arrived Thursday night to be here for me and to help out with the boys.  Friday night I had some serious nerves going on.  I slept well though and the 4:30 a.m. wake up call didn't even hurt.  I was ready to go!

On my way to my corral and telling Mr. C to chill with the camera!

Mr. C took me downtown and stayed with me until the start of the race.  He's so supportive and I love him for it.  Since I didn't have any friends in this race (Andrea, you're going to do this with me next year right?:) he had offered to sign up and run with me.  Bless his heart, he's a good sport.  But I couldn't ask him to do that, I needed to be a big girl.  We did see a few men running, one of which was wearing a hot pink shirt that said "I love my wife"-- ha!  Yay for awesome husbands.

I started the race feeling strong but tried to take my friend Ashlyn's advice to go slow early on.  I knew the course was full of hills and I was hoping to have something left at the end.  By mile 10 my knee was throbbing and I started taking 15 second walk breaks (grrr, so mad at myself for that!).   I picked it back up though and ran to the finish.  My time was 2:13:50--my goal was 2 hours and I wasn't far off but I could kick myself for those breaks!!!! In truth, they didn't hurt that much less and I wish I had pushed harder.

At the finish line and pretty tired!

My mom, my boys, my good friend Ashlyn, and Christian were yelling for me at the finish line.  It was so awesome I almost started crying.  Our names were printed on our bibs and even strangers were yelling my name-- let me tell you, I loved it and it made a difference!  So did all the encouragement you guys left here in your comments and emails, they were on my mind when the going got hard and I can't thank you enough!! I'm here to tell you, EVERY comment and piece of encouragement mattered to me!

Music city bling!

This half marathon started out being something I wanted to cross off of my bucket list but it turned into so much more.  Three and half months ago, I couldn't run to the end of my street.  Four days ago, 13.1.  I'll never forget it.  I found something I love doing, something I love being a part of, and it's so rewarding.  I can't wait to do another one and reach my goal time!  I'm a runner!!!!