13.1 Miles: My Half Marathon!

After months of training, it was finally time to run my half marathon!!

Nathan's parents and siblings came up the evening before the race and we went to the Olive Garden for dinner! Mmm... Mmm... Later that night my family arrived! We discussed the race route and kind of what to expect for the next day. Then it was off to bed.

I had lots of thoughts and feelings running through my head the night before the big race...

• The most I've ever ran so far is 11 miles... Will I be able to do 13.1?
• I am so excited to do my very first ever half marathon!!
• What if I can't fall asleep tonight and I'm too tired?
• What if I feel sick in the morning?
• What if my knee starts to hate me?
• I'm so glad family came up to support me!
• Tomorrow is going to be awesome!
• Karly and I are going to rock this half marathon!

As you can tell I was pretty nervous and excited for the race. Thankfully, I was able to fall asleep and the next thing I knew I was waking up bright and early. 

I threw cinnamon and orange rolls in the oven for the family for breakfast, then got ready to go. For my breakfast of champions that morning I had a small glass of chocolate milk and ate a banana and these delicious muffins I made! They are pretty healthy and oh so good! Thank you Pinterest!

When I was all set to go, Nathan and I biked over to the starting line. We met up with the Leavitts and before I knew it they were telling us to line up.

On your mark.... Get set...... GO!!!! 

No turning back now! The gun shot went off and so did we. Our boys cheered us on as we started our long run.

It was awesome having our families cheering us on throughout the race! My favorite part was when Nathan and my dad would ride bikes past us, and cheer at us, while they went to their next spot to see us run.

The race went perfectly! Karly and I ran together the entire time, beat our goal, and had a blast doing it!

The last mile was a little hard, both mentally and physically. My mind kept telling me I was done, and my body wanted to be done, but I pushed through that mental block and focused on my music to keep me going. Seeing the finish line with all of our families cheering was exactly what we needed to help us sprint to the end!

Across the finish line I was greeted with lots of hugs and prizes! I got my medal, my brother, Stefan, bought me a Gatorade, and Nathan had bought Karly and I each a peach from the farmers market! (I had joked with Nathan the night before that I was going to grab one while running the race, so I was pretty excited to see him holding out a beautiful peach for me. Best husband ever!!!!!) My mom also bought me flowers to plant as my "bouquet" for finishing the race!

The rest of the day was just a party with family! We had a BBQ in our yard, played some croquet, and watched a movie!