halfie

on saturday i ran my first half marathon with my dear friend alys. it was the "queen of the high road" race, an all ladies half full of positive energy and encouragement and awesomeness. at the end we got crowns instead of medals and if that isn't the coolest then nothing is the coolest. we've been training since late january and it was such an lovely experience to be able to bravely make a challenging goal, work hard to achieve it, and then accomplish it.

it was a hard thing and a good thing and i'm so glad i did it. i'm also so glad it's over. i said over and over again how i was just going to do it and then never run again. and then this morning i'm already looking for at least one 5k to do with craig this summer and i even glanced at some july half marathons. i was so sad i never got addicted to running, it never became enjoyable or easy for me, but i think i may be addicted to finishing races. especially since this one had such delicious food at the end and free massages for runners. a girl can get used to that.

throughout the whole thing craig was so wonderful and encouraging. before he started his externship he watched kahree during the week so i could do my short runs and every saturday since february he's taking care of everything in the morning by himself so i could do my long runs, sometimes for hours. he took care of a sick and tired kahree two nights before my race so i could get recovery sleep. he met me at the finish line with love and smiles and then bought me a tuna subway sammich to devour afterwards, even though he hates the smell of tuna. and he took care of kahree AGAIN that night because my legs were too sore to get me out of bed. i did this because he told me he knew i could do it and because he encouraged and believed in me the whole way. and the best part, just like after my 5k in november, was getting over than finish line and having craig hand kahree to me, so happy so see her mommy, and the wonderful congratulation snuggles she gave me.

i'm also so happy i had my friend alys to train with every week and who ran the whole race with me, so patiently. i'm sure i slowed her down a ridiculous amount but i'm so glad i got to do it with her instead of trudging through on my own. i really wanted to finish by 2 hours 30 minutes and we crossed the finish line at 2 hours and 29 minutes. yay! that may sound way slow to any elite runners out there but i'm super proud of it, we aren't fast but we had fun. and it's over. halleluiah.

let's do another! maybe...

 [hugs from my littlest]

 [looks like i'm denying alys a pre-finish line high-five. i didn't mean to...]

 [we did it!]