We did it! You a little more than me!*

 Lildonbro here - reporting LIVE (as in Alive).  So today was the half marathon - this makes two.  I woke up at 6:30 and got ready and Vivienne gave Arianne and I a ride down to the race.

Before - I'm a little freaked out by my "arm" it's actually my runner's belt, Viv took the picture as we got out of the car on some road, it looks like a gloved hand, but it is not.

After our warm up walk we found the starting line!

The race started off well.  I decided that I would run WITH Arianne, which is new for me, I don't run with people.  I've TRIED to run with Kat before, but those munchkin legs of hers are miracles on any race course and she quickly leaves me behind.  It was interesting to be running along and see all the sweaters and gloves tossed to the side, Arianne and I even saw a woman picking through them.  Not sure if she was sent to get someone's or if she was just looking for a good find.

We were between miles 3 and 4 when Arianne said, "Oh look, there's Christian!" I looked over and saw him and was like, "Oh what is he doing here?" and then I saw the other boys (Chris, Nick, and Ben) and realized that they might be there for me.  I waved them down and they cheered louder and yelled out my name.  Let's add this to the list of reasons why I love these boys (see this post for a refresher).  It was probably one of the sweetest things any group of boys has ever done for me and when I was running and got tired, I kept remembering that moment and it helped me to push through the weakness and the pain....because there was weakness and pain...in abundance.  I'm hoping writing this post will help me to remember that this year I mean it when I say I never want to run another half again.

I bought a pair of Brooks shoes (I was told they're really good running shoes) and I still had the issue where I felt as though the toes on my right foot had broken.  I had to run on the ball of my right foot because if I curled my toes or put any pressure on them, they felt as though they were breaking.  I think the issue here is my foot.  Because overall, these were some pretty darn comfortable shoes (and cute!)

Between mile 7 and 8 I lost Arianne, I would keep looking back and she would point forward and tell me to keep going, so I stopped looking back.  She caught up with me briefly close to mile 8 but then fell back to a pace that was better for her.  I was proud of her though, she stayed at a 10 minute mile for at least 7 miles!

Once I hit 9 miles I realized that it was the longest I had ever run consecutively and I determined that I would run this entire race (last year I walked quite a bit because of the broken toe feeling).  It took a lot of pep talks, a little bribery (I knew they would have pizza and I told myself I would get some this year if I didn't stop running), and remembering how sweet the boys were that morning to get me through to the end.

When I finished, my legs felt like jell-o and my fingers wouldn't bend well enough for me to text Arianne.  It took some time but I was able to tell her where to meet me.

We did it!

And I think this is why I run.  The bib, the medal, the sticker/magnets, the food, and the feeling of accomplishment.

...it only cost $55 right now to sign up for next year's...

Results:
2011 - 13.1 miles in 2:27:46
2012 - 13.1 miles in 2:15:22