I DID it!!

Well, I can happily report that I survived my first Half Marathon!!!  The whole thing was so much fun, mostly because I did it with some great people!  One of which reminded me so much before the race to just soak it all in, the beautiful day, the beautiful city, the beautiful weather!  Really put my mind in the right place to start the race!  Thanks Jude!!! 

It took us at least 25 minutes to cross the start line...super annoying, maybe it was because of these 20,000 people running the race...

but we finally did and about 100 steps later I got my first glimpse of my cheering squad (these beautiful people +my dad)!
 

Here's their view of seeing me for the first time!

What a jolt to get the race started.  We did the first 5 miles through downtown Philly.  Beautiful and it went by fast because we kept turning and there was so much to look at. (I'm not in this picture, just people running back out of downtown)

 Me running past before the.....

longest 4 miles of my life.  I had to walk some here.  Mostly through water stations, but I was SO disappointed I was walking.  Seriously, I had been training for SO long and I was angry I was walking.  The next 4 miles were a little better, some down hill so that helped. I just kept willing myself to keep going and eventually I saw mile 13 and had to just concentrate on the finish line to keep from sobbing my eyes out!  What an emotional rush. All of those people cheering and hearing the announcer cheering specific people in that he picked out from the crowd.  SO much fun.  My mom kept saying afterward that she thought that the finish was what is was gonna be like in heaven!  The angels cheering us in while someone announces our names.  Some sprinting to the finish, some just powering through, some walking, some being carried through on stretchers and some not being called at all.  Deep mom, a cool parallel

Walked through the post race runners area.  Got my awesome finishers medal and some MUCH needed cold water, cytomax a banana and some fruit and then found my family.  I really wish I had a camera with me on the course to take pictures of what I saw.  maybe next time I will!

Cheesy picture of me with my medal

This is how I found my sweet sissy girl...sleeping through the loudest music on earth!!

Me and my sweet boy!  I loved seeing that face throughout the race!

So that's it, I'd do it again.  Maybe after the next baby.....maybe bofore. Already planning on an 8K in November.   I have a long way to go in my weight loss journey..before we have another baby :) but I'm getting there!!!  This was a great accomplishment along the way!