Half Marathon- WE DID IT!

I am very late blogging about this. Life has been pretty busy!

We completed our first Half Marathon almost 2 weeks ago now.  I still can't believe I completed it!  It was iffy if I was even going to run it. The Thursday before I went home from work sick and took my first sick day in years- I had a high fever body aches and GI upset.  I have no idea what I got into. I even went to the doctor the next morning because I almost passed out that morning after walking down the stairs.  After staying off my feet all day Friday and drinking lots of fluids I was back to 70% that night packing up the UHAUL. I told myself that if I could pack up the UHAUL I could run the next day.  I was determined to try since I had trained for this for 6 months now!!

The next morning I felt a bit light headed but I think it was from nerves. We made it to the start line at 6am and had about an hour to wait and eat some breakfast.  We caught up with Adele and Jen and were able to catch up before we started running. For those of you that don't know me I have a nervous bladder so I peed 4 times that morning. The first couple times the line was really short but then I went 20 min before the race was starting and gosh there were probably 50 people in front of me.  I was 2 people away when they let the first people go (wheelchairs get a head start).  Man I have never seen people run and pee so fast so I got to actually go before we started the race (thank goodness).  I got back to the group right as they were counting down and we were off!

Right after the finish line! 

The first mile was downhill and really easy pace- I was overwhelmed with emotion running because I kept thinking- OMG I'm really doing this- I'm really accomplishing this goal!!!  After that I settled into my slow and steady pace. It was well under what Danielle and Justin were comfortable running but they were very supportive and stayed with me.

It was an out and back race which was cool because about mile 4 people started coming back the other way on our first out and back leg.  It really kept me distracted which makes the miles go by faster. Justin started having knee problems about mile 7 but I was running so slowly that he could take walk breaks and then catch back up.

I ran straight through until mile 11 then took a quick break -decieded that walking hurt worse than running and kept going. Remember when I said the first mile was downhill- well that means the last mile is uphill STRAIGHT uphill.  But we got through and picked up the pace as we saw the finish line. What a cool experience!! Jen and Adele even waited even though they finished right over and right under 2 hours (we finished right under 2 hrs 45 min.

I will definitely do one again but I have taken a week off from running and am excited to get back into it just waiting on this heat wave to pass :)

Shout out to my coach and friend Danielle- I would have never/could have never/ wouldn't have finished without her!  She is the one that got me following a training plan and met me at 6am even if she didn't sleep at all the night before to run. Thanks so much for your support, drive, and love over the last 6 months! Thanks for running by my side through the whole thing!

Moving

As we pack up the final boxes it hits me that I'm leaving the first place I called my home away from my childhood home. I was fortunate enough to go to college with my closest high school friends (or at least have them right down the road) so I never learned to say goodbye. Most of us stayed after college so again goodbyes were not in mass. In 3 weeks I have to say goodbye to all of my fiends at once....probably the scariest thing ice ever had to do. For those of you that picked up an left last year after vet school I can now understand what all of you went through. I am so fortunate to have Justin move with me and have my family so close. But this is still probably the scariest thing I've ever done. I have so many great friends I just hope that I am able to maintain all my friendships when I move. I don't know what if do without each and every one of you in my life.

The little empty townhouse- weird to see it like that. 

Packing up the house was a gradual process since we closed on the house in Hickory last year. We were able to take truck loads (or horse trailer loads) back every couple weekends. It helps to space it out but I am not going to lie I was DONE moving by the time we had the big load to go. Remember those awesome friends I was talking about - this is where they come in! We packed the UHAUL on Friday night after work and then got up the next morning to run a half marathon (more on that later). They were there with us every step of the way moving our heavy crap and tetris-ing the UHAUL so that everything would fit. Pokey sticks made the night go by so much faster and we couldn't have packed up without them!

Packed with room left for our mattress left to be packed the next day!

Justin was not thrilled with this selfie opportunity. 

Saturday after the race (and after Danielle helped us cram the last of our stuff in the van() Justin went on down the road and met Steve on the highway. I proceeded to return the Time Warner Cable box.  Anyone in Raleigh that uses them is now groaning.  They are AWFUL! So I then spent an hour and fifteen minutes of my time (which I am never getting back) waiting on my number to be called so that I could return my equipment - it took literally 3 minutes once I was up there! AURRRUUUGGGHHHHHHH. After that debacle I was on my way to pick up Somer.  Since we were so far behind when we got to Hickory the UHAUL was unloaded! WOW talk about efficient.  The boys worked their butts off - and I'm sure Steve carried 90% of all the weight because poor Justin was pretty gimpy from the race.  After that mom treated us to a wonderful lunch where Somer and I guiltily sat since we didn't feel like we had done much thus far - but it was delicious!  The rest of the night was spent unpacking and playing games.  Mom and Dad kicked our butt on Besserwizzer again- we thought we had their number after the last time they played but it must have been a fluke.

We are so thankful to Somer, Steve, Andrew, Danielle, and my parents for helping us move. We couldn't have done it without you guys!

Roxy didn't care that her bed had bags and boxes- she knew that was her bed and she was going to sleep in it!