Holy Followers, Batman! and 1/2 Marathon Report

OMGoodness! I go away for 24hours and come back to 20 new followers! While you are here, sign up for the "Hone your skills blogfest" ---> in the sidebar. It's going to be a lot of fun.

*WAVES*

Hello, to all the bright new faces. I'll do my best to get around to your blogs this week and follow back. If you don't see me pop in, drop me a note. I'm absent minded sometimes. :)

This weekend, hubby and I slipped away to Myrtle Beach without the children. That in itself would have been lovely, but we also ran the 1/2 Marathon while we were there. The weather was gorgeous! Perfect for an early morning run.

I have to admit that our training was less than perfect. WAY LESS. In fact, before Saturday morning, our farthest running distance was only six miles. My goal for the day was to survive and cross the finish line. I didn't have a plan for my time or how far I would run before walking.

I was pantsing 13.1 miles!

I don't recommend that, but it turned out much better than I anticipated. With hubby's help I ran eight miles before stopping to walk a bit. Turns out the walking hurt worse than the running though, so I only walked for a minute and started again. I stopped twice after that to stretch my hips and then kept moving forward. (This isn't about writing, but can you fill in the analogy? Long distance running is the perfect analogy for writing in SO many ways.)

The last half mile is ALWAYS the worst (at least for me), because you know you are so close. It's all mental by then. You KNOW you can run half a mile. You've already run 12.6 of them, so what's another half? It's half a mile of "there's nothing left" or "I'm gonna throw up" or "I think I can, I think I can". Or usually all three.

I hit the last tenth and thought "MOVE" and nothing happened. My feet were still in automatic motion which was all I could hope for. And then another runner stepped up beside me. It was the girl in the long purple striped socks that I had stayed close to for at least half the race. (I was wearing my awesome long heart socks.)

"Come on, let's do this! We've stayed together the whole time so don't quit on me now."

And we sprinted!

We crossed the finish line together, thanked each other and hugged before going our separate ways. That is why I love running. What other competitive sport is also so encouraging, with complete strangers?

Writing. But we do get to know each other better. Wait, not about writing today. :)

Here are some picture highlights.

Walking the beach the afternoon before the race.

I couldn't get a good picture, but the full moon on the ocean was beautiful. Our hotel was right on the beach.

The sleepy eyed start right before sunrise.

I love being apart of something big like this. Runners of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and abilities up for an early morning run.

We crossed the starting line about eight minutes after the cannon went off.

The hotels blocked the view most of the run, but the ocean was there in glimpses.

My garmin said the girl and I reached a 6.4 minute mile that last tenth of the race. That's how happy you are to reach the finish. You can make yourself DO what you had decided you Couldn't do.

The medals were awesome! One of my favorites

Right after this we got in line for massages--the second best thing after a race. What's the first? A shower!

My final time was 2:35. Considering my best time with full training was 2:33 I'm happy! And this morning I feel pretty good. Unless I need to go up or down stairs. And then I look 100 years old. LOL.