13 Point Frickin 1

Okay I think I've had enough time to mentally comprehend that I did it.
I actually frickin did it.
I ran that whole damn race. I didn't walk for one second. Not when I watched someone run face first into a sign, not through any of the water stations, not through all of my ugly cries, not at all.

My official time was 2:52:49 and yes that is pretty slow for not walking, but I didn't get picked up by the sweeper and that's all I cared about.

This race is seriously amazing, and I recommend it for anyone wanting to do a half, or even just 5 miles. You get to run through historical Boston and you have the support of the Boston Police Department behind you. The whole race is emotional.

I cried before I even started running. In fact I cried on my way to the race. The first ten miles were great. I was just taking in the sights and enjoying the run. The last three miles were rough. I won't lie. I was in pain, I was tired, I was emotionally tired. I wanted to be done. I was running past people drinking their Starbucks and eating their muffins and I wanted to be doing normal Sunday morning things, not running.

Then I turned the corner and saw the finish line. I cried. The emotions I felt were insane. I kept going and ran over the finish line and broke into full on ugly cry. Like snot dripping, heaving, ugly cry. So bad that the EMTs swarmed me and started taking my vitals. I had to scream out "I'm just emotinal" before they would let me go any further.

I got back to our meeting place and just collapsed on the floor. I called my husband and he put my daughter on the phone. She said

"Did you win mommy?"
"Hell yeah I won, baby, but don't say hell"

I may have been slow but in my mind I did win. I won over myself. The million times I told myself you can't do this. The million times I didn't start a run because I didn't think I would finish. The times I beat myself up over a bad run, or a hill that got the best of me.

I won.

My cousin Kassie seriously went above and beyond in terms of support on Sunday. I think I gave her the bug too because she texted me this morning saying she was looking into a half this fall!!

After my race she told me to check out Instagram and Facebook

The amount of love and support I got seriously floored me. I couldn't believe it. I still can't. You guys are amazing. Gah I'm crying again just thinking about it.

Then I woke up this morning and googled "How to increase your Half Marathon pace"

Seriously someone stop me.