the half.

I. Feel. Awesome.

We did it. I honestly didn't think two and a half months ago that today would ever come, let alone that we would actually run the race, and that it would eventually be over. I think i woke up every two hours last night, and just had this pit in my stomach, i was so nervous. This morning when we woke up, i was so jittery and just had no idea what to expect. But i was still excited. There were...so many people! 14,000 people. This might be a good time to mention that it rained almost the entire time. And by rained, i mean it really rained. Which just blows my mind even more that we actually finished. Wearing glasses is not fun in the rain...and around the last five miles i really couldn't see much. The first couple of miles were pretty slow, but we didn't want to push it too hard and get tired later. We ended up splitting up, and around mile 6 my left foot started hurting, but eventually both my feet and legs sort of went numb. Someone gave me some gel around mile 9 ish and i was like...what the heck...so i ate it and it was...interesting. I did get some extra energy toward the end, so maybe that's why. haha. For me, by far the best part of the race was hitting the ten mile mark. That's when i knew that i had no choice but to finish it out. I just kept telling myself "OK...you've done three miles...you know about three miles." And the entire three mile final stretch was on the same road, with no turns, which made it even better because i knew that every step i took meant i was on the straight shot to the end. I can't lie, those last three miles had some killer hills, and the last half mile was pretty much just a big hill. But once i hit the 12 mile mark, the spectators were just awesome, and there was a woman who just kept yelling "dig deep! push, push, push!!" That was what really did it for me. The last mile consisted of just trying to use my head instead of paying attention to what my legs were doing. Running the last half mile was amazing. Getting into the shoot and seeing the finish line was like no other feeling I have ever had. I know all of this sounds really dramatic... but we've been working up to this for so long, that I am just so excited and relieved that we actually did it, and now its over! My parents were right there at the end, and i could hear them yelling, and i know this sounds really dumb, but when i crossed i may have cried haha. I was just really overwhelmed, and had all of this adrenaline that i just didn't know what to do with. Watching Jander cross the finish line was amazing. I can't lie, my legs are killing me, but it was by far one of the best things I've ever done. St. Sebastian definitely carried us through i think.
Praise the Lord for legs, for runners, for people who cheer loud, for Jan and Amber, for our parents, and for showers.