Finisher!!

Mission accomplished, yay! What a great race. There were 4,500 runners, lots of cheering crowds, many bands, etc. It was a beautiful course (ending at the beach!) and really well organized. The course itself was VERY hilly (the last one around mile 11- so not appreciated!!) and it was a HOT one (over 90 degrees). The last 2-3 miles the sun was just beating down on us like crazy and I really thought I might melt. When we ran through residential neighborhoods, many people were out watching from their lawns, garden hoses in hand to spray the runners if we wanted (and we always did). I generally run around a 10:30 mile but finished the race in 2 hours and 27 minutes, at a 11:17 mile pace. The heat and hills slowed me down tremendously. I read online that even the female winner (Malika Mejdoub from Morocco) said, "Today was a little bit hot. The pace was slow. Nobody wanted to push because of the weather." Yet she still managed to pull off a 1:17 win!! I was just proud of finishing, and that I ran the whole thing. My race mantra was "just keep moving," ha. Someday I might do another, and try to better my time. But that day will be a long time from now, if ever!!

Below pic: The two women on either side of me are other moms from Connor's class. The woman on the far right is one of the girl's running partners. All three of them are veteran half marathoners and were out there trying to set personal bests. They were much faster than me!! They thought it was funny how incredibly nervous I was -- I slept for maybe two hours the night before the race- nerves and fear of sleeping through my alarm made it so I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me! We all drove together to the race and took this quick pic at the starting line.

Finisher! Biggest flag ever.

Andrew lost Leyla's shoes (a real bummer because they were one of my favorite pairs) but he did not lose either child and in the crowds and heat I was just thankful for that ;) When Andrew and the kids spotted me nearing the finish line he lifted Connor over the barrier so that he could race across the finish line with me. But Connor thought his instructions were to "race Mommy" (Connor thinks he's extremely fast - he really is- and loves to challenge people to a race). So he gave me a quick high five and then took off like a bat out of hell for the finish line. I'm hoping when they email us pictures from the race that they got a picture of this because it was so funny. For the rest of the day Connor kept reminding me that he beat me to the finish line and that next time I should really try to run faster. I let him wear my medal ;)

So happy to cross that one off the list! Thank you to my family (especially Andrew!!!) and friends for their kind words and encouragement. Finishing this race really meant a lot to me and I am very appreciative of the support!!