AFTER THE HALF!

SO much to blog about...I tried to make it a point to blog a few days ago as I was doing my mental training, but things have been a little busy around the Staker house.  Yesterday afternoon (day before the race), I got the key to our brand new condo--which of course meant that we were moving last night until 9pm.  We finally had to stop ourselves so that we could get to bed at a reasonable hour.
We had most of our things ready the night before the race (clothes, sports drinks/snacks, bibs, etc.) so that our only job would be to get some rest.  Turned out to be somewhat challenging!  Nathan and I woke up in the middle of the night after each having nightmares!  Nathan was dreaming about someone breaking into our new house :( and my nightmare took place in a small Alaskan village where people were mourning the deaths of some of their village members--don't know where that one came from.  After Nathan shared his nightmare with me, I immediately became paranoid and my mind got the best of me.  Had to force myself to go back to sleep thinking happy thoughts!
The morning of the race went smoothly.  We had everything laid out and ready.  All we had to do was go with the flow (which was good because we were semi-asleep).  We got to the start line with plenty of time to use the restroom, warm up, chat, and get excited!  And off we were...
The first few miles were the roughest!  It took me a while to get past "the wall."  Madonna helped, but the hills didn't.  We stopped at each mile marker for 30 second walk break (best idea ever) and ran the rest of the way pain free (Hallelujah)!  We made mental notes of people as we slowed down to walk and found that we later passed them because we were less worn out.  We got halfway at 1:03, so I was anticipating a 2:06 finish if we kept the pace (which was a very slow start--about 9:45 miles so we wouldn't burn out).
After halfway, we started to pick up the pace!  Our slowest mile was 12 minutes but that included jogging by a water station (and trying to drink) and some hills.  I couldn't believe it when we hit miles 11 and 12.  The finish was around the corner--well, more like up a hill actually.  Our third largest incline was during mile 13, which was pretty brutal, but we started to see some finishers with metals and they cheered us on, reassuring us that the finish was not too far out of sight :)
One we got to the race track, I sped up and passed a few people.  I saw that the time on the clock was 2:04, and I smiled excitedly as I crossed the finish line.  What a victory!  Six minutes faster than my "vision" time.  My next vision will have to be 2:02 OR less than two hours.
Although we finished the race and I met my goal of "becoming a runner," I know that this is only the beginning.  Don't ask me about it yet (because I am very sore), but I DO plan on running another race this summer.  There is a full/half and 5k this summer that we are thinking about next.  Registration doesn't end until August 15th, so we have plenty of time to see how the next few weeks/months go.  As for now, I will soak in my sweat...I mean, victory, and pig out guilt-free!

Quote of the day: "If you want it, you already got it...If you thought it, it better be what you want!" -Madonna & JT, from the song "4 Minutes" (which is how much faster I need to run next time!)