Woke up at 6am – nervous – and WIDE AWAKE!

Had coffee and spicy oats in my belly by 6:15:Then proceeded to STRESS out for 2 more hours!

Mike was nice enough to drive me down to the starting line, so I didn’t need to worry about parking.  I found a port-o-potty, and came out of it RIGHT as the 10 mile starting gun went off!  I hopped into line, crossing the starting line about 1 minute behind the first person.

First 3 miles I felt pretty good, but I was really worried about tiring out – so I was pacing around 10:30/mile.

Mile 5 and 6 were pretty rough – and I think most of it had to do with the fact that almost all of my training was done inside on a treadmill.  The pounding on the pavement was more difficult than I had anticipated.

This is right around mile 5 (NICE SHOT DAD!)I hit mile marker 6 at 1:08:54, which was way slower than I would have liked (although that wasn’t my actual time since I was delayed in crossing the starting line).

Miles 7 to 10 are kind of a blur.  I was “tired” but did a good job of telling myself to just zone out - I was rockin to some of the new songs I downloaded the night before to help get me through the race. 

I saw Mike at about mile 9.5 and he told me to PUSH IT!   I picked it up the best I could, but each time my right foot hit the ground, I felt my whole leg retract a millimeter.  By then, I felt like my right leg was 3 inches shorter than the left leg, because my muscles were growing so tight!

As the finish line finally came into my line of sight, I saw Mike, my mom and dad, and Kristin – talk about support!I pushed it, and crossed the finish line at 1:58:40 – which my official time was probably 1:57:40 or so.  Here I am with my wicked awesome “finishers” medal:My cheering section (sans photog Dad):They were serving “breakfast” in the finish line tents, so I grabbed some eggs…Which I took one bite of and promptly threw away.  It was like someone dumped a FULL salt shaker on my portion alone!  BLECH!

I was in serious need of something in my belly, so with no other options I was SECONDS AWAY from gagging down a banana (have I mentioned before how I feel about bananas?!?!?!?!?!)….When Mike miraculously whipped out a granola bar and saved my life.  Don’t worry – the naner didn’t go to waste – Kristin ate it!

Overall I was happy with my time – I was aiming between 1:50:00, and 2 hours – hoping to be closer to 1:50 – but I knew with all my indoor training, I’d be slower outside!  I do feel better prepared for the half marathon on May 17th though!  Watch out here I come!