13.1

IS DONE!!!
Saturday morning I picked up my race packet.

At that point it was real! I was getting excited. The chance of rain at the beginning of the race was down to about 10%.  Of course as time went on the forecast changed & not for the better. My excitement was replaced with annoyance! I rested most of the day & we went to Mass & to eat Italian so I could get some good carbs & protein!! I slept pretty good which I was very happy about.

Before we left the house I took a pic because my friend Cindy told me she'd be at the beginning of the race to see me before she had to go out of town & I wanted to make sure she saw me.

The forecast when I woke up Sunday. The race started at 7:05. I was happy to see that the wind wasn't bad.

Me & sis-in-law Lydia waiting to start. It was cold waiting. It was like 37 degrees at this point.

The start/finish line.

Lydia & I stayed together for the first 5 miles. That was great because we talked! Who would've ever thought I could run much less talk & run! It wasn't raining when we started. Some of my friends were at a point at the beginning of the race with a cow bell & signs! It wasn't just Cindy & I was really surprised!! I thought that would be it but around mile 3.5 there they were again with Dean!

Then again a few miles later. Cliff with the cow bell, Dean, Kitzia, Suzy, Sheri & Steph's taking the picture! Cindy had to leave by this point. Then later, there they were again with my friend Allison. I was so excited to see them all. Especially considering the awful weather.

There ended up being a mist/drizzle the majority of the run. Around mile 6 it got heavy but didn't last long. My feet were still dry & I wasn't cold at all. I ditched the jacket a little after the first mile & was able to hand it off when we saw the crew at mile 3.5.

My friends couldn't believe that I was smiling. Who doesn't smile when people are cheering for you??

At mile 8 my friend Suzy, who is a runner, jumped in for the last 5!

That's Suzy's arm & leg you see. She was ready to go! That's Cliff's bell on the right of the pic!

It was great having Suzy with me because we talked & it went by fast. The worst part of the run was an overpass at mile 10. It was HARD! Like really hard!! I did it though! It didn't look like Suzy had any problem with it! At mile 11.5 the rain really started. It was pouring. My feet were completely soaked in about 2.7 seconds. Thank goodness I wore a baseball hat because the bill kept a lot of water off my face. I think it probably rained hard for about a mile. My goals for this race was under 2:30 & I didn't want to walk. I really wanted to do it in 2:20. During my training I was always on track for that.  There is nothing wrong with walking & throughout my training I told myself if I felt like I needed to walk I would. I had one training run that was just awful & I walked a lot but for me the starting & stopping is worse than just pushing through. It's hard for me to start back up.  As we were getting close I looked at my watch & I was already at the 2:20 mark & that bummed me out a little. Then I heard the cow bell & I was so excited! It was so awesome to be able to hear it before I could see my peeps because I knew I'd see them soon! I told Suzy " My bell, my bell"! Then I could see the finish line! I saw the time & I sprinted to the finish with Suzy cheering me on!

Official time 2:20:28!!! I was sooo excited! I still couldn't figure out why my watch was wrong & then I remembered that I started it before I crossed the starting line because I didn't want to forget in all the excitement. I was 38 out of 66 in my age group & 236 out of 443 overall. I won't be winning any awards but I'm thrilled to death! It was awesome seeing Dean & my peeps when I ran through the finish. They were directly in front of me so I couldn't miss them!

Lydia finished at 2:28:40

She's smiling in this one!

 

Sheri, Allison, Lydia, me, Kitzia, Cliff, Steph, Suzy & Dean in front.

You know you're in Louisiana when the very first drink you see after crossing the finish line is cold beer!!! I'm not a beer drinker but I was thirsty & it was pretty good!

I love the medal!

Who am I kidding? I'd love any medal they gave me! I was surprised at how heavy it is! The ribbon part is a cute chevron print.

My little ticket with my time! We didn't hang around long since I was soaked & really cold by that point. By the time we got home I had blue lips & I'm not even kidding. I made a cup of coffee & got in the tub.

I had a snack!

Wedding Cake & Turtle cake balls!!

I did nothing but hang out until it was time for dinner. Our friend that lives in Indiana now was in town so we had a girls dinner.

Then we had dessert!

Coffee Call beignets! SOOOO GOOD!!!

Now it's Monday & I'm a tad sore!!!

Toodles!