"All I really wanna do is go the distance."

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*Warning*  Brag post!  

(This is seriously just for me to have so that I remember that I actually 

did it.)

Ok, I'm really not one to brag about myself (at least not to people other 

than Robbie), but this definitely merits some bragging rights.  

On Saturday, I ran the "Colbert Autumn Classic Half Marathon". Never in a million years would I have thought I would ever run one. I've never been a 'runner', or even had an inkling of a desire to do one. But, one of my friends had the wild idea to sign up for one, and so I figured, "When will I ever be in 'running shape' to do one again?"... so I did it.  It was seriously such an amazing feeling of accomplishment! I was totally nervous... my primary goal was to just finish.  My other goals were, (in no particular order), 

* to run the entire thing

* to finish under 13 hours

* to live to tell the tale (and to wear my new sweatshirt!)

And I achieved every single goal! This is huge for me, since I just recently found an old list of goals that I wrote down for myself, back in 2001, and I still hadn't reached a single one! LOL

The course was beautiful, but very hilly, with gravel and paved roads.  There was a killer hill at mile 8, (and of course it was GRAVEL!), along with several other really fun hills that needed to be conquered!  To top it all off, it rained the entire time.  (Which I was totally dreading at the beginning of the race, but once I started running, it started feeling so good to have a little mist on my face.) 

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge my Heavenly Father for blessing me with a body that can do things like this! Also, to my AWESOME husband for all the support he gave me through all my early morning trainings and long Saturday morning runs. Without him, I would not have believed I could do this.  Thanks babe.  I also have to thank my mom, dad and Grandma for coming out IN THE RAIN and wind, to cheer me on!  You are marvelous!  And of course I have to thank my amazing training companions throughout the past 8 months.  Shannon and Candy, thanks for encouraging me and for training on the hills that helped me have the endurance that I needed.   Chari, I know I gave you a hard time for choosing such a hard half marathon as our first one, but it was awesome.  Thank you for finding a race to do and for running with me!  You are AWESOME!   Amy, thank you for the 'juicy' topics that helped get us through our long runs!  You girls rock!  We did it!