I did a Half Marathon!!

So today was the half marathon... Nadia, her sister Julia and I were all totally nervous and excited. It was supposed to pour with rain and somehow, we missed the rain. The weather was cool but windy which really was ideal (however, the wind was a bit too windy at times). The race was in White Rock and went through some beautiful areas. At the start, I ran 14 minutes and then moved in to my walk 2 run 5 rotation. At first, Nadia, Julia and I were all running together, then I fell behind. Then I am not sure what happened, but slowly I gained on them... passed them and didn't see them again until the finish line! I was probably with them for the first 5km. Since we were sort of at the back to begin with, it was a very quiet race for me as I hardly saw anyone else and when I did, I ended up passing them! Crazy right? Haha... at about the 16km mark, my knees and back had had it. I ended up speed walking most of the way to the end with a bit of running here and there. At this point the wind was particularly bad. I had told myself all along that I wasn't going to push myself if I couldn't run, I wouldn't. Still there was a bit of a drive to push forward quickly as I realized that this would be the first time in a race that I would ever have a better time than Nadia... haha, yes, I got competitive! My goal was to come in at 2hrs 40min keeping with my 2/5s, but would be happy if I came in under 3 hours. Due to the walking at the end, my time was some where around 2hrs 55 min (but that still needs to be verified as we all wore ankle chips so I will update my blog on that later). Nadia came in about 2 minutes after me and Julia shortly after that. We all did amazing. After telling Mom I didn't really want anyone to come watch the race, I sure was thrilled to see Mom and Cali just before the finish line. I really didn't expect that completing this race would be so emotional... Me and Nadia both cried after coming across the finish line. Julie and Sophie were also at the end waiting for us, so it was an awesome show of support for such a big physical accomplishment. Mom and Julie both took a bunch of pictures and here is what Julie gave me (great job Julie!).

Here is me finishing the half marathon! Honestly, I had to push myself to run across that finish line, I was so sore!

Little Cali was pretty excited to be a part of me coming across the finish line!

Julia, Me and Nadia after all doing an AWESOME job of completing the half marathon!

As I sit here on the couch, feeling sick to my stomach, in pain... everywhere... back pain, knee pain, sore toes, black toes, blisters, chaffing... haha, will I do it again? I think I will stick to the 10 kms for the moment! In all seriousness, I am proud of what I accomplished!