#46 -- DONE!!!!!

You've all heard me mention walking in a half marathon multiple times, and last weekend was FINALLY the big day!  When I first created my 101 Things list, I never dreamt that it would make me so productive.  Honestly, it's like I finally feel accountable to someone and therefore, it makes me want to reach my goals. 

My mom first asked me to do a half marathon with her back in late August because she wanted to do one the year that she turned 60.  I said "yes" very reluntantly because honestly, I really wanted to wait and do one next year sometime.  However, I didn't want to let her down, so I begrudgingly started training.  I must say that the longer I trained, the more I enjoyed it.  I did NOT enjoy doing the long walks by myself, but I knew that was a very necessary part of the goal and therefore, I kept up with every one of them.  We decided to walk in the Nashville Half Marathon that was hosted by I Run for the Party.

The day before the race, I headed to the Hard Rock Cafe Nashville to pick up our race packets since my mom wouldn't get into town in time to pick her's up.  I know it's cheesy, but I took a picture of myself and my race packet:

Please excuse the tired look on my face...it had been a LONG week!

Friday night, I ate lots of pasta and went to bed very early, with lots of nervous and excited feelings.  I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and my mom and I headed down to the start line. 

When the race got started, I was shocked at the large number of people who were walking.  And I was also surprised at the number of people who were my age and walking.  Once I realized that we were able to keep up with all the walkers and even walk faster than some, I relaxed a lot and started to enjoy myself.

The first 4 miles went really well, and after a quick bathroom break, we were back on the course.  Miles 4-7 were on a greenway in an area of Nashville called Metrocenter.  Metrocenter is a business complex with many, many office buildings.  As you can imagine, this section of the half marathon was REALLY boring.  Thank goodness that my mom and I were "Chatty Cathy" during that portion.  Around mile 8 though, we both started feeling REALLY tired and in quite a bit of pain.  I have told a lot of people that miles 8-10 were the hardest part of the race for me...my body was already tired, I was really hungry, and quite frankly, I was bored...all I kept thinking was, "I still have 5 miles left of this!!!!!"  At mile 10, my mom told me to go ahead of her because she wanted to take a quick bathroom break and she thought that I may still be able to make my goals if I didn't wait on her.  See, at the beginning of this I set a goal for myself:  I wanted to finish with an average 15 minute mile.  After walking most of my long walks in shorter than a 15 minute mile, I decided that maybe I would try to do the entire race in 3 hours and 15 minutes. 

At mile 10.5, Patrick, his sister, my dad, and Peppermint showed up to cheer me on.

Kristine and Patrick even walked with me for a few minutes.

That must have been exactly what I needed to make it through to the end, because after I saw them, I got my second wind (or 3rd or 4th...I mean, really, who was counting?).  I decided I was going to walk as hard as I could in an attempt to meet my goals.

During these last 3 miles, I had a lot of time to myself, and as ridiculous as this sounds, I kept thinking about how proud I was of this accomplishment, and couldn't wait to cross the finish line. 

At exactly 3 hours 16 minutes and 17 seconds I finished the race.  No, I didn't meet my 3 hours and 15 minutes goal, but I did manage to walk an average mile in 14 minutes 59 seconds.  Therefore, my original goal was met, and I couldn't have been happier...or more tired.  =)

A few minutes later, I was able to watch my mom cross the finish line, too!  She also had a great time of approximately 3 hours and 22 minutes.

Here is one last picture of both of us:

I will finish by saying that I totally understand why people get addicted to this whole half marathon thing.  It was such an amazing feeling and really was so much fun!  Don't be surprised if you hear of me doing this again.  =)