13.1 and Done

Hello bloggy ladies and gents, how are ya'll? I missed you over the weekend. I went dark for the weekend, and unpluged from the internet and it was awesome. As much as I enjoy blogging, and reading what you were doing, it felt great to hardly open my ipad and spend time with the husband, family, and good friends.

This weekend I did the first half marthon of the year. In a word, it went really well. In another word, I was so flippin' nervous. I have no idea why, but about 2 days before the race, I decided to look at the elevation chart and saw this:

To be frank, it scared the heck out of me because Austin is located in the beautiful hill country, and we live in Dallas, which is the Southern most part of the great plains. Basically, the elevation chart that I have been training on looks something like this.

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There are not hills in Dallas, so I have not trained on them, and to say that I was worried about this race for 48 hours would be the understatement of the year.

Saturday night, I went to bed later than expected, and I didn't sleep well at all due to my mind racing about the race. I woke up, got dressed, and P and his friend dropped me off a couple of blocks from the start line. I jogged to the start, and got in line for the bathroom. There were 14 porta potties, and 20,000 runners. That is not a good ratio. I ended up waiting in line to use the bathroom for almost an hour. While in line, I stretched, listened to music, and tried to calm down my rumbling stomach. I was really nervous that I would miss the start of the race because the bathroom line was so long, but I got in and got out right as the gun was fired. Not the way I wanted to start the race.

The first 4 miles were a complete blur. I didn't get to warm up like I wanted, and so I started out cold, and those first miles, I wanted to zone out and run. Before I was ready, I saw the first hill, and freaked a bit, but I held my pace and made the climb. It was easier than I expected, and because I did it so easily, it did a lot for my confidence.

P and his friend were on their bikes and decided to ride around and support me during the race. I saw them right at the start, and then again at mile 8, and 11. It was awesome knowing that I had support so close by.

Miles 3 through 6 were pretty rough due to some pretty steady climbs, and my pace slowed down a bit, but I was able to keep going.

I honestly don't remember much from miles 8-11. I listened to the Dave Ramsey show on podcast and kept plugging along. Before I knew it, I was on mile 12 and I saw P on his bike. Up ahead loomed the biggest hill of the race. P was yelling encouragement, and I looked at him, and yelled back, "I am going to make this hill my bitch." (Sorry for swearing Mom). However, as I was running up the hill, it kicked my butt, and I had to walk the last portion of the hill.

I finally finished, and crossed the finish line with a brand new PR! 1:57.