My Half-Marathon

Well, it was totally a miracle of God, but I did get to run my race and guess what?? I FINISHED!!!

Here's the story:

Left Saturday with a bundled little Longhorn, bound for the Vera Bradley Outlet with my mom

Was in Heaven at the VB Outlet, it was AWESOME!

Completed half of my Christmas shopping!!

Left Outlet Mall, headed southbound I-35 for Alamodome to pick up race packet/number

Walked like 10 miles just to park, get packet, and get back to car.

Hudson was such a good boy!!

Went to Olive Garden, loved being able to load up on carbs!!

Checked in to Hotel, legs already tired from walking, so that made me nervous for next day.

Still coughing a little bit...

Sadly watched the UT-OSU game. :(

Hudson was such a good boy!! :)

Set alarm for 4:45 am

Woke up like every hour to make sure I did not overlseep.

Woke up, got dressed in dark hotel room, headed out with my dad, who dropped me off.

Temperature was 50-degrees!!

Waited in traffic at 5:30am.

Dropped off near start line, sat in local hotel lobby where it was warm and out of wind...

Walked like 2 miles to my starting corral.

Race started at 7:15, but I didn't start running until about 7:45!

Started mile 1 with a call from my sweet hubby praying for me. (He had to work and could not come)

I loved running with my iPhone. I could get calls/texts while tracking my race pace and listening to my playlist.

Doing well, no coughing or breathing trouble yet...

Completely focused on running that I totally missed running by the Alamo at mile 3!!

Saw my parents, Hudson, Dani and Joel at mile 4.

Still going strong...

Made it half-way, still running without stopping.

Saw my parents, Hudson, Dani and Joel at mile 7.

Still going strong, although I took some tylenol for my hips.

Everything was good until about mile 10.5

Wow, it was hard!!

Kept running.

Mile 11.5, at water station, stopped to stretch and realized I only had 1.5 miles left.

Could not start running again, so I began my uncle's run 5/walk 1 minute routine.

Did that until end of race.

Only walked a total of 3 minutes the ENTIRE race after being injured and sick!! YAY!!

The last half mile was a hill, which was tough!!

Finished in 2:30 by my time.

Officially, it was 2:43 (with water stops, parent stops, etc.)

YAY!!! I DID IT!!

More race day pictures to come.